


One Last Push

by Blooddemonfox



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blue Paladin Lance (Voltron), BoM - Freeform, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Homesick Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hurt Lance (Voltron), I'm Bad At Tagging, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Lance (Voltron) as Beauty (Beauty and the Beast), Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Lance leaves, Lance leaves voltron, Lance loves his space family, Lance misses blue, Langst, M/M, Matt is Here, Pidge and Matt, Red Paladin Lance (Voltron), blade of marmora, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 19:07:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 32,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17586644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blooddemonfox/pseuds/Blooddemonfox
Summary: The voices, the nightmares, the training, the constant reminder he is not good enough, it the last push Lance need to get consumed by the darkness inside him. He needs to get away from his family, he will only hurt them by staying.Langst is a big part of the fanfic!





	1. 1st chapter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fangirl_inTheTardis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl_inTheTardis/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Timeline: End season 5, start season 6, I think. Keith isn't on a weird space whale.
> 
> Important stuff about the story: Shiro is not a clone, he is just stressed and has PTSD. I haven't decided if there is klance yet so yeah (There is). I also forgot Lance's Bayard turned to a sword, so he is shooting in this story *nervously laughs*
> 
> Hey everyone, First off, I made this some time ago (half a year) and It was made to Lance's birthday, it's a three shot and I will try posing all the chapters today since they are done. I just checked through it so it was better and republished it on Fanfiction.net so I hope it's better now.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like it!

"Lance! It's the second time this week that we had to come to save you. You have to get better" Shiro's voice was angry and he continued saying all the things Lance had done wrong the past few months.

Lance stopped listening.

' _you're not good enough'_

"Lance are you even listening" Shiro's irritated voice got Lance's mind back to the conversation. "Yeah," Lance said as fast as he could, he didn't want to make Shiro more angry at him. Shiro pressed on his nasal bridge, looking very stressed. "Good. Anyway, Allura and I have thought about setting you on a special training program. I wasn't sure at first but, after what happened today, I think it would be a good idea"

Lance stood in shock. They thought he needed special training, was he really that bad? Yeah, he'd messed up a lot lately, but he didn't think it was this bad.

"Lance, your special training will start tomorrow, go get some sleep," Shiro said and waved him off.

Back at his room, Lance curled up in the corner of his bed.

' _They don't love you'_

' _They hate you'_

' _You're a burden to them'_

' _Seventh wheel'_

' _You don't deserve being a paladin of Voltron'_

' _You're pathetic'_

The voices didn't stop, nothing could stop them, not even the silent sobs that escaped Lance's mouth.

***Next quintant**

"Paladins, I need you at the bridge," Allura said over the speakers. Lance lifted his head, he hadn't changed out of his armor yesterday, so he was almost ready. Lance walked over to the mirror and looked himself in the eyes.

"You have to smile, okay, just try," he said out loud to himself. Lance took a deep breath and faked one big, confident smile. "Perfect, now run, we don't want to be late," he said.

"Wow Lance that was fast, you're the second to come, and you are in your paladin suit," Allura said excitedly. Second, of course, he wasn't first, he wasn't good enough to be first. He shook his head, no time to the thoughts, they had to wait. "Thank you, Princess" He just said with the smile plastered to his face.

The other paladins came not long after.

"Paladins, we have some planets that need help. It's just everyday things, nothing with galra attacks" Everyone looked happy, this was the best part about being a paladin. "Hunk, Pidge, you take Exzerus, take Matt with you" Pidge and Hunk high-fived, and walked out, taking Matt with them. "Keith, since you will be here for some quintants before returning to the blades, you and Coran will take Spu-wy" Coran and Keith looked at each other, and nodded. When the door closed behind them, Allura turned and looked at Lance. "You and Shiro are going to start your special training" Lance felt his smile flater. 'Nonononono, don't let them see' Lance quickly put his smile back together. "Yeah good idea, the Lancy Lance must be even better," He said, biting his tongue, to keep his smile in place. Allura just rolled her eyes.

***Later**

Sweat was dripping down in his eyes, and he felt like he couldn't breathe. His arms and legs screamed at him to stop. His back arched by all the hits it had taken, and his stomach told him that he was going to vomit. Lance ignored it all and charged at the gladiator. He wished that he had his gun, but Shiro had said that he was going to train in hand-to-hand combat. A hard hit in the stomach, send him flying back into the wall. Shiro said something over the speaker, Lance couldn't understand what, but gave him a thumbs-up. Lance stood up as fast as his body allowed him. The world was spinning, and his legs were shaking. He closed his eyes, tried to clear his head. 'You can do this, you have to, you can't give up'. Lance opened his eyes, just in time to see the gladiator, he blocked a hit coming at him, and the gladiator in the chest. The robot hit the floor with a loud sound, and before it could get up Lance stamped it on the head, and the Gladiator stopped moving.

"Lance, that's enough for today. Go get something to eat and some sleep" Shiro said over the speaker, and the doors opened. Lance was on his way over to them when Shiro called his name. "Lance, before you go, do you need a cryopod? You took some pretty hard hits" The concerns in Shiro's voice was real, but Lance shook his head "No, I'm good, nothing some sleep can't fix"

Lance thought about going to the kitchen and get something to eat, but changed his mind, he wasn't hungry. So he just hurried back to his room.

***A few weeks after**

Lance had barely eaten and slept for the past weeks. All he'd done was training, in the day he was doing the special training, and in the night he was doing some shooting practice. No one had noticed, they were all busy with the war.

"Paladins, we have a galra attack!"

Lance was ready and just stormed down to Red's hangar. When he saw her, he was filled with sadness. It was not like he didn't like her, he loved her, but she wasn't Blue. He blocked the sadness and smiled at her. "Are you ready?" He asked, petting her big paw. A warm purr was all he needed as an answer. "Then let's go kick some galra butt"

"Lance, Pidge! Get ready to board the galraship" Shiro said over the coms

"Roger that," They said in unison.

The red and green lions flew over to the side of the ship, and Red blasted a hole so Pidge and Lance could go in.

"Hurry Lance, soon the guards will come" Pidge yelled, running as fast as she could towards the control-panel, Lance was right behind her but stopped when he heard the sound of metal feet running. "Pidge, go get the info we need, I will cover you," Lance said and turned, already having his bayard and shield activated. Pidge didn't have time to argue before Lance shielded her from a blast with his shield. "NOW" he yelled, shooting a robot guard in the head. "Right" Pidge mumbled, and hurried over the panel and started downloading data about the prisoner.

"Got it. Let's get out of here" Pidge yelled to Lance. "OK," Lance yelled back, blocking another blast. They started running, Pidge in the front and Lance in the back. "Why can't they just would give us a break, they have been shooting constantly for 20 doboshes," Lance said with a corky smile. "Shut up Lance, we don't have time for you to joke," Pidge said hash. She turned her attention to the hole where the lions were.

"Shiro, we are almost out, and we got the information too," She said over the coms. While her attention was on her conversation with Shiro, a guard took the opening and shoot a cannon look-a-like gun… thing. The blast was as big as a fist, with a blue light to it. Lance didn't have time to warn Pidge, so he did the only thing he could think of, shield her with his body. He jumped in between Pidge and the blast. Everything was in slow motion, Pidge turned looking Lance in the eyes, her confusion turning into horror. When, everything went fast.

The blast hit Lance on the lower left side of his back, and he choked back a scream. He hit the cold, metal floor hard. Not dwelling at the pain, Lance turned to his side. He shoot the galra soldier fast, once in the arm he was holding the gun in, and once in the leg. Lance hurried to stand up, even though his body begged him not to. "Come on, we're almost at the lions," Lance said, taking Pidge's hand and started to run.

Everything ached, and he started to see black spots. Lance didn't slow down, if he did, Pidge could get hurt. "H-how… How can you run?" Pidge's voice was filled with concern and confusion "The blast was nothing like gladiator level 50's hits," Lance said, like a matter of fact. Lance knew it was a lie, but Pidge didn't. That blast was one of the most painful things he had ever experience, the only things to top was dying and getting blown up. And to add to the pain, a level 50 gladiator had beaten up his back pretty bad, so bad that he had gotten a wound almost exactly where the blast had hit. That wound was not healed yet, so this was going to hurt a lot when the adrenalin would start to wear off.

"W-what?! Level 50! We are not that high" Pidge looked at him even more confused. "Well, the team are not, but I am. You know that special training Shiro and Allura said I should do, I think I just reached level 60" Lance didn't even look proud. "Really, why haven't Shiro and Allura said anything," Pidge asked looking at Lance, but the blue paladin didn't say anything.

xXx

"Shiro, we are finally in our lions," Pidge said over the coms. "Great, everyone, fall back," Shiro said. He took the lead, flying towards the castle of lions.

Everything was turning black, and Lance felt his stomach turn, but he swallowed it back, no way he was going to vomit in Red. A concerned purring sound could be heard in his head. Red. "I'm okay, girl, just exhausted," Lance said with a smile, he didn't want this amazing lion to be concerned for a pathetic human like himself. "Could you drive, I'm really tired, and we don't want you to hit stuff?" Lance said with a little smile. Red just gave an agreeing humph.

They were last, but it was fine, he had been the furthest away from the castle. He got out of Red, and started walking towards his room, but met Pidge on the way. "Hey Lance, are you okay?" Pidge asked concerned. "Yeah, why shouldn't I be?" Lance asked, and smiled. "You damn well know why. You took a huge blast, and by the look of it, it was an electric blast" Pidge said frustrated. "I'm good, okay. But I'm really tired, as you said I took a big hit" Lance said, and patted Pidge on her back.

Lance hurried back to his room, he didn't want to meet anyone else. He locked the door and stripped his armor and the black suit under it. Lance walked out to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. A big, bloody wound could now be seen on the lower, left side of his back.

"Shit" Lance mumbled under his breath.

***Next quintant**

"-And Lance just leaned to the side and made two amazing shots. You should have thought he would pass out or something like that, but he just stood up and started running, while dragging me with him! When I asked about it he just said 'it's not as bad as the level 50 gladiator' that guy is crazy" Pidge was in the middle of telling the story, about her and Lance escape, eagerly to Hunk, Coran, Matt, and Shiro.

Lance came in just to hear the end of it. "Lance, is that true" Hunk said amazed. "Yeah, I guess," Lance said, turning his back to the others. He took a plate and filled it with food goo. When he turned around, and they all looked intense at him. "Guys, I'm hungry, so spill what you want to say," Lance said, and started to eat. It was the first time he got something to eat in over 36 hours, he should really start to remember to eat.

"Katie said something with level 50 gladiator, was that an exaggeration or was it true" Matt finally asked. Lance hadn't talked much to Matt, it wasn't because he didn't like him, Matt was honestly an amazing person. Lance just wanted to give Pidge some time with her brother. "Truth," Lance said without hesitation and took another spoonful of food goo. "How do you even know that?" Shiro asked confused. "Oh right, you don't know. Now that I checked, I can say with certainty that I'm at level 60 in your special training program" Lace said, and continued eating.

Everyone's jaw dropped. "Can we see you fight a level 50" Hunk asked excitedly. _'Lance you can't, your wound is still bleeding, you won't be able to fight and even if you were you would make the wound worse'_ A little voice in his head said, he tried to ignore it. "Sure, hand-to-hand combat or gun fight?" Lance said with a smile.

xXx

' _I'm going to die'_

"Training Level 50 hand-to-hand combat start!" A gladiator appeared, and Lance was ready. Level 50 gladiator was slower than level 60, and the hits were easier to block but not easy enough. And in any case, fighting a high-level gladiator, with a big wound on your back, was and is hard. He heard someone scream his name when he hit the wall with his back first. He just gave thumbs-up and jumped back up delivering the final blow to the gladiator.

"Oh my god, Lance are you okay? You landed on your back, should I ask Coran to get a cryopod ready?" Pidge asked knowing that Lance back should still be wounded, or at least hurt a little after the blast the day before. "No need, I'm good, I just need a bath," Lance said with a smile. "Hey Hunk, my man, could you make something delicious to eat, I'm starving" Lance said, with a confident smile. "Sure buddy, you deserve it after that fight" Hunk said and dragged Pidge with him, saying 'You need to help me' or something like that. "That was amazing, but… I still want you to train because I want you to become even better. I don't like seeing you hurt, maybe I could ask Keith to help you with the hand-to-hand combat, next time he comes to visits" Shiro said with a smile and patted Lance on the shoulder. Lance knew it was meant as a compliment, but it still hurt him.

' _That's right, you're not good enough. Not as good as Keith'_

Lance shook his head and walked over to his room. He locked the door and looked at his hand.

"quiznak"

It was filled with blood. Lance looked at his shirt, there was a big stain of blood, he had to change his bandage and shirt before he could go down in the kitchen.

After Lance had taken a bath, put new bandages on and changed his clothes, he prepared himself to smile. Again.

***One month after**

Lance could barely stand, was he sick? Did he just stand up to fast? Some food would help, yeah it would. Lance sat down on his bed again. His head was spinning. He had almost not eaten or slept for almost 2 months, and he knew it wasn't healthy.

Lance had only slept 1-2 hours every night for the past 3 weeks. The voices had become louder, and his homesickness gave his depression fuel. And to make matters worse, his wound was infected, so everytime he moved, his back screamed in agony. Because of the infection the wound didn't close, that meant he continued losing blood, it wasn't that bad because he could drink water and eat, but he still suffered dizziness as a side-effect.

The special training program was still a thing he had to do, so his hands continued being stiff and bloody from hitting the metal gladiator robots. Because of his terrible sleeping schedule, he also trained around 12am to 3am. In other words, he was miserable, and it continued downhill.

xXx

"Lance shut up and be serious" Allura yelled over the coms under a mission. Lance had made a joke about the galras. That had been the last time Lance made a joke on missions -no- It was the last time he had talked on a mission, beside the important stuff. But no one noticed.

"If we optimize the gendocam like that, our fights with a galraship would be so much easier," Pidge said, already starting to type the program to whatever they talked about. "Yeah, that's an awesome idea Hunk," Matt said and fist-bumped Hunk. That was the last time Lance walked near the lab. Not even Hunk noticed.

"Lance, I'm the leader. I make the decisions. So stay out of it" Shiro yelled at him. It wasn't the first time he yelled at Lance like that, last time was about Lotor. But he was unstable this time. He kept his smile though, so no one noticed the shattering the happened inside him.

Lance stopped doing a lot of things, and no one thought a second time about it.

' _You're stupid'_

' _You're weak'_

' _You're pathetic'_

' _Seventh wheel'_

' _Keith should have your place'_

' _Voltron deserves better'_

' _You're the worst paladin'_

' _You're the weakest paladin'_

' _You don't deserve their love'_

' _They don't even love you'_

' _Hunk doesn't see you as his best friend'_

' _Pidge thinks you're useless'_

' _Shiro thinks you're weak'_

' _Allura thinks you're one big joke'_

' _Coran thinks you're stupid'_

' _You're a burden'_

The voices were like knives, that stabbed him in the heart.

He couldn't do it anymore, his family didn't deserve this mess. He wasn't good enough, they deserved better, Red deserved better, Blue deserved better. Hot tears started falling down his cheeks. No one deserved this pathetic human. Both his family and space family had put up with him for too long, if he disappeared, they would be happier.

_I'm sorry_

_I'm sorry for everything_

_I'm sorry for all the trouble I have coursed_

_You all deserve better_

_I hope you will find a better red paladin_

_Goodbye from the former red and blue paladin,_

_Lance._

Lance looked over the note and tapped it on his door. This was his goodbye. Inside his room, there were some letters to each of his space family, even Keith.

He walked into the kitchen and took some of the delicious food Hunk had made. Lance was going to miss the big guy, his hugs, his food, and their inside jokes.

"Goodbye Hunk" Lance whispered with fresh tears in his eyes.

Lance walked silently down to the lab, he hoped both Pidge and Matt had gone to sleep. He peeked in at the lab, no one was there. Lance walked over to the computer, he logged in. What was it Pidge had said to do if you didn't want to be followed. He knew they didn't expect him to listen, but he did. Lance typed in some things and transferred it to a USB stick. All he needed now was a ship, he could take the escape pod.

"Goodbye Pidge. Goodbye Allura. Goodbye Shiro. Goodbye Coran. You where the best family" Lance mumbled with tears streaming down his cheeks.

When he was settled in the pod, he took a deep breath. They would be better off without him.

"Goodbye Red, I hope you get your cub back"

An angry hiss echoed in the castle halls.

' _What do you mean, why do you say goodbye?'_

Lance didn't answer and hit the button, that sends the pod out in space. He flew as fast he could, as long away from the castle as possible, at least for now. Red would alarm them, or maybe not. Red had never liked him, and she would get her Keith back, so maybe she was happy.

***In the morning with the other paladins**

"Hunk, this smells delicious," Matt said when he and Pidge walked into the kitchen. "Thanks, Matt, it's filled with protein, specially made for Lance," Hunk said with a smile. "Where is Lance anyway?" Pidge said, laying her head on the table. "He must be training" Hunk answered, still focusing on his cooking.

"How can he be so focused in the morning" Pidge growled, she looked more asleep than awake. "Come on, Katie. Not everyone is like you in the morning" Matt said and sat down beside Pidge. "Yeah I know, but Lance used to be worse than me," Pidge said sleepily. Matt looked confused at her, and when over at Hunk. "Yeah that's true, Lance hates getting up early," Hunk said, humming a melody. "Well unless he has nightmares, or just stayed up all or most of night when he would be so excited to leave bed" Hunk said, turning towards the Holt siblings. "Wait, what did you say?" Matt said, looking terrified. "Unless he has nightmares or… Shit" Hunk's confused expression changed fast to a horrifying one. "You don't think he…" Hunk trailed off. "That or he almost never sleeps, maybe even both," Matt said. "What could be so bad, that Lance hadn't said anything about it?" Hunk said unsurely. Pidge sat up fast, suddenly looking really awake. "We have to go see him" she sounded scared. "Yeah, I agree," Hunk said turning the oven off.

They ran, as fast as they could, up to the training deck. They looked in, but to their surprise, it was empty.

"Where the quiznak can that idiot be" Pidge yelled frustrated. She stamped in the ground and cursed under her breath. "Relax Katie, maybe he just slept in and is in his room," Matt said calmly. Hunk nodded. "If not maybe he is in Red's hangar, he used to be in Blue's a lot" Hunk added. "Red's hangar is closes, so we should look first in the hangar, If he's not there, we look in his room," Pidge said.

"Maybe we should tell Allura or Shiro," Matt said. "We tell them when we find Lance and get some answers," Pidge said and started heading toward Red's hangar.

xXx

"LANCE" their voices echoed in the empty room. "I don't think he's here" Hunk stated. Where could he be, Lance normally told him everything.

"Hey, is it… eh, normal for the lions to look… Sad?" Matt asked, pointing at Red. She was curled up in one of the corners. Red did indeed look sad. "I don't think so," Hunk said insecurely. Pidge walked over to the big lion and laid a hand on her nose.

"What's wrong, girl?" Pidge asked with a soft voice. A sad purr was the answer they got. Pidge looked at Hunk and Matt. "Did you understand what she said" They both shook their heads. "One more time, please," Pidge said with a pleading voice. Red repeated herself. Pidge still didn't get anything out of it, other than the sadness. "I got something, one word not the whole sentence. She said something with Lance" Hunk said with concern. "You only heard Lance, nothing more?" Matt asked urgently, but Hunk only shook his head. They looked at each other a tick and started running towards Lance's room.

xXx

"Guys. GUYS" They stopped running. Shiro was the one to yell at them. "WHAT" Pidge snapped. Red had said something about Lance, she was sad, ergo something must have happened to Lance.

Shiro looked taken back by the harsh tone. "I just wanted to know why you were running, has something happened?" Shiro looked both concerned and curious. "We don't know, maybe," Hunk said fast. "What is that suppose to mean," Shiro asked looking confused.

"We have a theory about Lance either not sleeping or at least not sleeping a lot or having nightmares. So we ran up to the training deck, but he wasn't there. So we ran down to Red's hangar, it was empty. But Red was acting weird, she was curled up in a corner looking sad. We asked what was wrong, she purred sadly, we couldn't understand. After she repeated herself, Hunk got 'Lance' out of it. So now we are running to his room. Something must be off, why else would Red say something with Lance in a sad tone" Matt said fast. "We're wasting time," Pidge said angrily. "We should really hurry," Shiro said and started running with the others.

When they arrived at the door to Lance's room, the note was the first thing they noticed. "W-what does it say," Hunk asked, he hoped with all his heart it said, Lance was out shopping for something in spacemall. Pidge was the first one to read, and tears started running down her cheeks. "It-it s-says g-g-goodbye" Pidge hiccuped out. "What?" Shiro busted out, taking the note. He read it again and again. Tears could be seen in his eyes. "Shitshitshitshitshitshit" Shiro's cursing took everyone back, no one had ever heard him curse. A few tears started falling down his cheeks, as he continued whispering shit.

Hunk couldn't take it anymore, he pulled the note out of Shiro's hand and started to read it. Matt who stood hugging Pidge moved closer to read it too.

Hunk stood in shock. Lance must have felt really bad for it to come to this. How had he missed it, he was his best friend for quiznaks sake. "I must be the worst friend in the entire universe" Hunk cried out and started rambling about all the things he could have done to prevent this.

"Wait for a tick," Matt said loud. Everyone shut up and looked at him. "Let's first explain the situation to Allura and Coran, maybe even Keith, and when we will find a solution" Matt said with a sorrowful voice. "Why would we tell Keith," Pidge asked between two sniffs. "He's apart of your space family, and he is the only other person that can fly Red," Matt said, looking pained by saying that they had to replace Lance. "Nope, no way, we are not going to replace Lance, we must find him" Hunk snapped. "It's only until we find him, there is no one who can replace Lance," Matt said with tears in his eyes. He hadn't really talked to Lance, but he knew how much Katie loved him, in fact, the whole team loved him. Lance was the reason they were like family, they had to find him.

xXx

"Why did you call us here," Allura asked, with a nodding Coran behind her. Shiro shifted, he didn't know how to tell the Alteans that Lance had disappeared, only leaving a note saying he was sorry. "Shiro, what is going on," Allura asked irritated. She had been woken up by the loud sound of the speakers, and Shiro that said it was very important she and Coran came to the bridge.

"Lance is gone, we don't know where, all we have is this note," Pidge said, starting to cry again as she gave the note to Allura. In utter shock from seeing Pidge cry, Allura just took the note and read it. Allura dropped to note, after reading it, and slammed both her hands over her mouth. Tears started to flow down over her Altean marks. "No" She whispered behind her hands.

Coran bowed down to take the note up but froze. After a few ticks, he stiffly picked up the note. "Is… is it," Coran swallowed "Is it true" He finally got stammered out. Hunk just looked down at the ground, tears quiet forming in his eyes, so Shiro answered. "Y-yeah" Shiro's voice broke, and he looked like he was fighting back the tears in his eyes.

"O-okay, what is the plan," Coran said, choking back a sob. "I proposed that we tell Keith," Matt said. He stood beside Hunk and hugged Pidge. "He should know, not only because we might need him to fly Red, but because he is a part of our family" Matt's voice broke when he said, family.

Allura had got control over her voice again. "I-I suggest that we tell Kolivan, and ask him to send Keith to the castle without telling him. That way we can tell him personally, and he can help the search for L-Lan… I can't say his name" The last part was more like a sob than talking, but everyone still understood. "Everyone who agrees, lift a hand," Shiro said, and everyone lifted a hand.

***With Keith**

Keith walked down the dark halls, that made the base for the blades of Marmora. Quiznak, he missed the bright halls in the castle of lions. Keith turned and walked into his room. His room was filled with stuff, which was very different from his old room. All the stuff was something the other paladins had given him while he was with the blades, it was their reminder to him, that he was family.

Most of the things were from Lance. Keith and Lance had become much better friends after the whole lion swap. Lance was also the one Keith talked the most to, even though he hadn't heard from him in over 2 months. Keith was a little worried but had figured that Lance was just really busy, being a paladin and all. Keith looked around in his room, most of the stuff was socks (Lance and his knitting), but there were space recipes and weird technology things. Keith had just laid down in his bed, ready to take a nap before the next mission when someone knocked on the door to his room.

Keith opened the door, and to his surprise it was Kolivan. "Er… Good day," Keith said looking Kolivan in the eyes. "Keith, the castle of lion has asked for you to come immediately" Kolivan's normally emotionless expression, had something else to it, but Keith couldn't really decrypt what it was. "Really? I will pack a bag, I should be ready in under 20 doboshes" Keith said exited. He hurried back into the room and forgot all about Kolivan's weird expression. He changed into his earth clothes and packed the blades suit. He also packed his tryout for space chocolate chip cookies and the gifts he had for the Voltron team.

xXx

Keith stood on the bridge packed and ready to go, nothing more than 12 doboshes after his conversation with Kolivan. "The coordinates are already typed in, you just have to get inside the ship" Kolivan said ice cold.

"Roger that," Keith said with a big smile, he couldn't wait to see his family. Some of the other blade members came to say goodbye to Keith and wished he would have a good time. He thanked them and made his way to the ship waiting for him. Kolivan followed him, to make sure he made it out safely. "How long shall I stay with Voltron?" Keith asked curiously. "It's up to you and Voltron, they didn't really tell me anything," Kolivan said with a stern expression. "Now get into the ship, they said immaterially" Kolivan said while almost pushing Keith into the ship.

Keith had been sitting in the ship in almost a varga, and he had a little over a varga left until he arrived at the castle of lions. It was boring to fly alone, of course, the music helped (He could thank Pidge for that), but it was still not the same. So Keith tried to get the time to pass faster and ended up thinking about why Voltron needed him, IMMEDIATELY (Keith chuckled to himself, as he yelled the word in an Allura impression voice). It didn't really sound like they needed help with a battle, if that had been the case, they would have asked for more blade members, not only him. They could, of course, be that they just wanted to see him, but that didn't have to happen IMMEDIATELY (Keith chuckled again). Keith used the next 30 doboshes to think about why they would need him.

He thought about a lot of ridicules thing but came to only a few who would make sense. One of them was that it was someone's birthday, or that they hold a birthday party for someone. Therefore Keith checked the earth date (again possible because of Pidge), It was the 31st of July. Keith slowly checked through everyone's birthday, or at least the ones he knew. His own birthday was the 23rd of October, so there were still a long time to his birthday. Hunk's birthday is the 13th of January, so definitely not him. Shiro's birthday is the 29th of February, so not him either. Pidge's birthday is the 3rd of April, he remembered celebrating her. That left Lance. It took a tick before Keith remembered, Lance's birthday was the 28th of July, that was 3 days ago. "That must be the reason why they had asked me to come" Keith said to himself.

Keith smile got bigger then he saw the castle. He opened the radio, trying to get in contact with the castle. "Princess Allura of Altea here, identify yourself" Allura's voice was firm. "Keith here, I'm ready to board," Keith said with a smile on his lips. "Keith! Perfect. The hangar is open" Allura's voice was happy, but it had an edge to it. Keith didn't really think too hard about it, he just couldn't wait to see his family.

Keith's landing was a good one, he was pretty proud of it, so when he got out of the ship, he was smiling all over his face. But as soon as he saw the Alteans and paladins faces, his smile faded. "I guess this isn't a birthday party for Lance," Keith said, and his face turned serious. The others grim facial expressions turned confused. "What do you mean by 'Lance's birthday party'" Shiro asked concerned. Keith frowned. "You know, Lance's birthday, the 28th, 3 days ago" Keith glared at them in confusion, when their expression again changed now to a terrified one. "Didn't Lance tell you… quiznak, please say you guys didn't forget it" Keith's voice was angry, how could people who acted like a family, forget someone's birthday?

That was the moment Keith realized someone was missing. "Where is Lance," Keith said in a tone, who was hard to tell which emotion it held.

"He left… he left a note" Pidge said almost choking on a sob. She handed the note over to Keith, who snapped it out of her hands. As he read it, his expression turned softer. He looked up, with tears in his eyes. "What the fuck happened"

xXx

After the team filled Keith in on the little they knew, they all walked to the bridge.

"So L-Lan-c didn't take a lion, so he must have taken an escape pod," Pidge said, trying her best to focus on facts. "I should be able to track it" She looked at the screen in front of her, typing in some codes.

"Quiznak, I'm blocked from the escape pod" Pidge yelled out in frustration. Everyone looked at her in shock. "I must have heard that wrong, what did you say" Hunk said still in shock. "That son of a bitch has used MY no-tracking-plus-map USB stick program," Pidge said angrily. "Your no-tracking what?" Shiro said confused "no-tracking-plus-map USB stick program, NTPM-program for short" Pidge corrected. "How does he even know, how to get it" Shiro asked still confused. "Remember that time for 4 months ago, when we had to sneak out those very important prisoners? We didn't want to get tracked using a map, so I programmed the NTPM-program. I explained briefly how to download it and then gave you one copy. That copy was destroyed with the ship after we landed" Pidge said fast. "The only way he could get it was downloading it down, and that is one of the hardest things to do on this ship, after flying the castle and change a crystal without help from the mice"

Pidge was really worked up, so Hunk just placed a hand on her shoulder and said. "Can you remember that time at the garrison, where you needed help with that computer program. I said I couldn't help, it was to complicated. You got really frustrated, so Lance just walked over to you to help. You turned him down saying, if I couldn't help, he would definitely not be able to. He just shook his head and pushed you aside. It took him like 10 doboshes to type something, then he was done, everything worked perfectly"

" _How did you do that" Pidge said looking between Lance and the computer. Lance laughed and turned around. "I will go get some chips," he said and walked out of the door. "Hunk did you know he could do that?" Pidge said turning to Hunk. Hunk, on the other hand, looked like he had seen a ghost. "That really did happen," He said with a shocked expression. "It really did," Pidge said, looking at the computer and the perfect working program._

"That idiot never told me how he did it," Pidge said with a humph. "Anyway, there is no way I can track him because he didn't bring his helmet or paladin suit, and my program is bulletproof," Pidge said with a sigh. Everyone looked concerned at each other, how were they going to find their missing paladin now?

"Maybe we should check his room, it could give hints about where he could be heading," Coran said and tried to smile. "That is a really great idea," Allura said with a thankful smile.

"Do you think it's locked?" Matt asked when they stood in front of Lance's door. "I have absolutely no idea, but nothing can go wrong trying to open it, right," Shiro said, looking at the door like it was a dragon. It took a second for him to move, but he eventually slowly pushed the button to open the door. The door said a swush as it opened.

The room was dark and seemed unfriendly. Hunk didn't like that, so he turned the lights on. With more light in the room, they could start their search for any form for hints about where Lance could have gone, and why he had left them.

On the bed were the blue paladin suit and red bayard. Only the clothes Lance had had on from earth, was missing from the closet. Two pictures were missing, one of Lance and his family back on earth, and one of everyone of team Voltron that had been taken right before Samuel Holt left to go back on earth. Lance's knitting kit was also missing, and a towel.

Out on the bathroom, Pidge noticed the first aid kit was empty, that, of course, made her concerned. If Lance had taken the whole kit, that wouldn't have made her concerned. So she checked the dumpster, which was filled with bloody bandages and cleaning wipes. Pidge's gasp was so loud, that the others all came running over to her. "Did you find something important" Keith asked, with a hopeful look in his eyes. Pidge nodded. "I found something important, but I don't think you're going to like it," Pidge said, opening the dumpster. The other paladins looked down, to see what Pidge had found.

"I will scan the blood on the bandages to see if it's Lance" Coran said, taking the dumpster and disappeared out of the door. "Why didn't he say something, he could have gotten a cryopod and would have been fine one day after. When did he even get injured, and how didn't we notice" Hunk said looking at the others, with a guild filled face. Pidge was silent, she was thinking.

"Could he… could he have lied" Pidge mumbled, it was loud enough for Allura to hear. The Altean had been very quiet, as they had searched in Lance's room, so Pidge almost jumped when she talked. "What do you mean by that?" Allura looked curiously at the green paladin. Pidge looked taken back, and her eyes shifted between Allura and the blue paladin suit.

"I… For around a month ago, when Lance and I boarded a galraship to get intel about some prisoners, he… eh… got shot. I was telling Shiro, that we were on our way out, a guard took advantage of my attention being somewhere else, the guard shot this huge gun, it looked a lot like Hunks, I didn't notice, Lance jumped in front of the blow. After he landed on the ground, he just headshot the guard like nothing had happened, and after that, he ran, with me, over to the lions. When we landed after completing the mission, I confronted him about it, he said nothing happened, and he was okay. The next day he fought a gladiator on level 50, in hand-to-hand combat, and won! I'm serious. Anyway, I just trusted him after he again said everything was fine, but… what if… what if he wasn't… I don't know…" Pidge stopped talking, she thought saw something, something under the paladin suit.

"Hey Allura what is that?" Pidge said walking closer to the suit, and pointed at the parish thing there was under the suit. "I… don't know," Allura said pushing the blue suit to the side so they could see what it was. It was letters, addressed to everyone on the team.

***With Lance**

Lance didn't do well in silence, nor did he like being alone, but that had been his life for at least two months. Now, Lance was alone on a spaceship, in the middle of space, without knowing where to go. The only comfort he could find in this situation was that he no longer was a burden to the ones he loved.

Lance had thought about going home to Earth but had decided against it, he couldn't handle being a burden again. He just wished that he didn't have to be like this, a pathetic, useless, emotionally unstable goofball. If he just had been helpful for once, maybe… just maybe he hadn't had to leave. Yeah, Lance knew he had hurt his family, both of them, but it was for the best. They would forget about him, Voltron could get Keith as Red's paladin, or Allura could get Red, and they would find a new blue paladin. His family, back on earth, properly thought he was dead, which was better than what he was now.

If Lance kept flying the way he was going, he would react to an intergalactic traiting planet, where he could change his ship to a more discreet one, maybe even get something to eat. Lance would say it would take about a varga to arrive, so he said the ship on autopilot. Lance changed his bandage and ate a cookie.

The silence was killing him, so he slowly began talking to himself. "I'm sure you did the right thing, they will be happier, with time" "But what if they don't, and I just ended up hurting them more" Lance could feel tears sting behind his eyes. "Lance, listen to me, listen to you, you did your best, but it was clearly not enough, it would be better if they get Keith back. You saved a lot of planets, we saved a lot of lives, it was our time to step down, let Voltron become as great as it could" Lance's voice was trembling, he seriously hoped he did the right thing. "I'm going to miss saving people though" A sudden idea came to his mind. "Wait for a tick, I don't need to be a paladin to save people, I can still free prisoner. I can save people from smaller prisons, and leave big rescue missions to Voltron or the blades" Lance's really liked the idea, that way he could be useful to the universe, and he wouldn't annoy anyone.

xXx

Lance had fallen asleep, so when he landed, he jumped up from his chair. Lance took he bag and looked out of the window. The buildings around him were old, and there were people everywhere. As he got out of the ship, an alien approached him.

"Hey, how much for the ship?" The alien was purple with green spots, it had dark green eyes and a black mustache. "Another ship," Lance said looking at the alien. "What kind of other ship," The alien asked, looking superspecies at Lance. "A little ship, that won't stand out much. The ship itself shall have a bedroom too" Lance said with a smile. "Why do you want a new ship, is something wrong with yours" The alien looked at the Altean ship. "No, nothing wrong with it, it's just that my friends can track it, and I don't want to be found. Also, it doesn't have a bed" Lance said shooting his best smile to the alien. "Sounds fair. I think I have the perfect ship to offer you. Come this way" The alien started to drag Lance over to a house that looked awfully a lot like a parking lot.

xXx

"So what do you think?" The alien looked hopeful at him. "It pretty much perfect, I just need one thing from my old ship and when it's yours," Lance said giving the alien a handshake.

Lance set his USB stick into his new ship, he was ready to fly. The ship was dark blue on the outside, and grey-blue on the inside. It gave Lance some kind of home feeling. It was almost like flying Blue.

***Back on the castle**

"Can I get everyone back on the bridge" Coran's voice was urgent, and it got Pidge and Allura out their momentarily shock. Lance had left them letters, he hadn't just left without saying goodbye. Pidge took the letters and started running with Allura and the others to the bridge.

"So I checked the blood, no doubt that it's Lance's, he is the only AB **-** negative on the ship" Coran said with a sorrowful expression. Everyone nodded, they hadn't expected anything else, but hearing it was confirmed, was hard.

"But I do have some good news, I got a hold on the missing pod. The pod's current position is on a planet called Mechu" Coran said, as he found a picture of Mechu. The planet was brown and not very big. It was not exactly galra, but it had galra patrols once a month. The brown planet didn't have a specific species but was inhabited by all kinds of aliens.

"I don't think Lance is with the ship anymore, but we might get some information" Coran was still busy getting the exact coordinates to the ship, so he didn't notice the first time Pidge said his name. "CORAN, for quiznaks sake" Pidge almost yelled. "Yeah, number five" Coran turned around and looked at Pidge. "Allura and I found something. Lance… He left letters, to us all" Pidge said and started handing out the letters.

"He… he made one to… me?" Matt looked at his letter, the letters were clearly making his name, but Matt still didn't understand. "Of course he did, you're a part of our Voltron family," Pidge said, punching her big brother on the shoulder. Matt couldn't swipe the big grin forming on his face away.

"Oh my god… oh, my god… I can't read this" Hunk said, dropping the letter. "Don't you want to hear what Lance have to say to you?" Allura asked confused. "No… Yes… not this way… I just… he's my best friend" Hunk choked out between sobs. Big tears were falling down his cheeks. "Hunk, don't cry. Think about this, maybe Lance left something that can lead us to him" Pidge said, hugging the big guy. "Yeah, you are right, Lance would also kill me if I didn't read it," Hunk said with a light chuckle.

"I don't think we should read alone, we have no idea what Lance could be writing," Shiro said, he looked around and got a lot of agreeing nodes. "I don't think we should read our letters out loud either with the same reason" Hunk said, he also got a lot of agreeing nodes. "We could sit in the relax area, that way if we need comfort we just ask for a hug, or if we need privacy we just sit in a corner," Allura said, again everyone nodded agreeing.

xXx

Coran's hands were shaking when he started to open the envelope. He had absolutely no idea what awaited him, all he knew was that he would diffidently cry.

_Dear Coran,_

_I love you so much. You're my crazy space uncle, and no one can take that title from you._

_I'm so grateful for you listening to me and laugh at almost all my jokes._

_You made me feel at home, and you chased my homesickness away, even for just a moment._

_I know you lost your planet, your family and all your friends, I just hope that our Voltron family can help on your lost a little._

_Coran, I beg you to take care of Kaltenecker, I know you can do that for me._

_About the lack of paladins, I'm sorry for putting you in this situation again, but I can't be a paladin anymore, the team, the universe, you all deserve better._

_I really loved my time in the castle, but this is my time to go._

_Coran, please keep everyone's moods up, I know it's a big job, but I hate seeing my family sad, por favor, do it for me._

_One last thing, when you get back to earth, please take everyone in team Voltron (Yes that includes Matt and Keith) to my house (the address is in the envelope), when you get to my house, ask for Marianna McClain, say to her that you're her son's family, and he wanted her to meet you._

_I'm going to miss you a lot._

_Keep being the space uncle._

_One last hug from your space nephew,_

_Lance._

As Coran finished reading the letter, tears fell down on the paper. Coran couldn't wrap his head around the letter, it was so beautiful, and knowing Lance thinking of him like family, was a big honor. The thing that made Coran the most honored and… happy was that Lance wanted, not only him but the whole team Voltron, to meet his family. Just the thought made Coran cry harder, he let his face fall down in the letter. He just couldn't stop crying, that beautiful boy had left because he didn't think he was worthy enough to be one the team, that they deserved better, what did they do to deserve a boy with such a big heart like him. Coran cried and cried like nothing else mattered.

Hunk laid down his letter and walked over to Coran. His own tears blurring his vision. Hunk pulled Coran into a big bear hug. "Happy or sad tears?" Hunk whispered questioning. "Both" Coran said with a surprisingly good control over his voice. They just sat holding each other for a few doboshes, trying to find comfort. "So… How was your letter" Hunk asked, when Coran stopped sobbing. "it was amazing… he… he wants us to meet his family" Coran said looking at Hunk. Hunk smiled warmly, he remembered the first time he had met Lance family.

_Hunk was almost 9 when he met Lance for the first time. Hunk had changed school because of bullying, so of course, he was nervous when he stood in front of the new class. Hunk stood half behind the teacher, he tried to hide for the curious glares his new classmates gave him. The teacher was a woman in the mid-forties, she seemed nice. Hunk took deep breaths, he didn't want to freak out on his first day, but everything was so new. "Hunk, your seat will be next to Lance" The teacher pointed at a boy far behind in the classroom. The boy had light brown skin, brown hair, and a wide smile on his lips. Hunk relaxed a little, the boy seemed friendly. He slowly made his way down to the back, to the table where this 'Lance' was sitting. Lance scooted his things away from Hunks side of the table and made a gesture that invited Hunk to take his place. "Lance, you will also show the school to Hunk, and make sure he feels okay," The teacher said when Hunk had taken his seat. As soon as Lance nodded, she started the lesson. The teacher, which name was Mrs. Evergreen, talk about multiplication when Hunk got nudged on the shoulder by Lance. "What?!" Hunk mimed irritated, he tried to learn. Lance just pointed at a note, on the table. Hunk leaned over to read the note. 'Hi Hunk, I'm Lance McClain. Do you want to eat lunch together today, just so you're not alone?' Hunk looked at the boy next to him, Lance smiled. This boy, Lance, was the nicest 8-year-old Hunk had ever met. Just that simple action, asking if he wanted to eat together so he wasn't alone, meant the world to Hunk. He took out his pencil, and wrote three letters, in Lance's words. 'YES'. When Lance read it his face brighten up, he looked so happy._

" _That's all for this lesson. Go fetch your lunch bags" Mrs. Evergreen said. The classroom was filled with noises, students talk and chairs scraping over the floor. "Hey buddy, I need to use the bathroom. Can you take my lunch bag, and we'll meet in the cafeteria" Lance looked sorry about leaving Hunk. "Yeah, it's cool. I will just follow the others" Hunk said with a smile, he couldn't really blame Lance for going to the bathroom. Lance gave Hunk an apologizing smile and left the room. Hunk started to follow his other classmates, toward the cafeteria. Hunk found an empty table and placed his and Lance's lunch bags on it._

" _Hey… Was Hunk it? No wonder you're so fat, when you eat two lunches" Hunk stiffened before turned around, where saw a boy with black hair and an evil smirk on his lips, behind him stood 4 boys, all with crossed arms and judgemental looks. These boys meant trouble._

" _Yeah, I'm Hunk. Sorry to disappoint you, but one of these lunch bags don't belong to me. And I didn't catch your name?" Hunk said, forcing himself to smile. "Oh, fatty got an attitude," The black haired boy said, looking back, grinning, to his followers. "You want to know my name, fatty? Let that be the only wish of yours, that will ever come true. My name is Freddy" Freddy's evil smile got bigger._

" _Anyway, since you have two, mind if I borrow your lunch?" Freddy reaches out grabbing Hunk's lunch bag. Hunk stood up, looking Freddy in the eyes. "I do mind, you can't just take people-" One of the guys behind Freddy, pushed Hunk hard into the table so he fell into it and down on the floor. Hunk grunted in pain and sat up on the floor. Tears formed in his eyes, why did this always happen to him. The boys started to laugh. "Look at how pathetic fatty looks down there," Freddy said evilly. But as he and his gang turned around, a voice cut through the noises in the cafeteria._

" _Hey, Freddy! Bullying the new guy? That's low, dude, real low" Hunk turned as he recognized the voice of his savior. Lance was standing not far away from the table, his smile had a different vibe than before. How should he explain it? Before Lance's smile was filled with joy and happiness, now, it had an edge, an edge of anger._

" _Uh, should I be scared? Lance the hero is here to save the new kid, I'm shivering in my pants" Freddy laughs. "Oh, how funny, but I'm actually here to get my friend's lunch back, you shouldn't know where it is? Oh right there, in your hand, you were on your way to give it to him, I see" Lance said walking closer to Freddy._

" _Why don't you just give it to me, I will return it to my friend" Lance's voice was stern and his eyes could kill. He reaches his arm out toward Freddy. "You really think I'm going to give it back?" Freddy chuckled out. "Oh, I don't think, I know you're going to give it back" Now Lance was under 1 feet away from Freddy. Freddy was at least a head higher than Lance and much more muscular, and all his 4 bodyguards were even bigger._

" _L-Lance you don't have to-" Hunk didn't get to finish his sentence before Lance intruded him. "Did he say anything rude to you, or did he call you any nicknames" Lance was still looking at Freddy, not even turning to Hunk, as he spoke to him. "Yeah… he called me… he called me fatty" Hunk's voice was nothing more than a whisper, but Lance heard it. He started to shiver in anger._

" _You son of a bitch, You called him fatty, what the hell dude. Not only, did you steal his food, and push him onto a table. NO! You also make fun of his appearances. Yeah let's all make fun of the new guy, he properly doesn't mind. Is that what you think. Tu horrible ser humano, perteneces al infierno" Lance spat out in Freddy's face. "And what are you going to do about it?" Freddy said with a confident smile. Lance punch Freddy in the face, the impact was so hard that it sends Freddy to the ground. "That," Lance said, looking down at Freddy._

" _Get him" Freddy yelled, holding his cheek. The 4 big boy's attacked Lance at once, and as soon Freddy got up on his legs again, he joined in._

_When the fight was over, Lance had a black eye, a bloody hands, a most likely sprained wrist and that was not counting all the scratches on his legs, arms and face. But he had won the fight, or at least the others retreated Lance picked up Hunk's, kind of trashed, lunch bag. "Sorry 'bout your lunch," Lance said, looking at the very crusted sandwiches. "You can have mine," Lance said and pushed over two sandwiches to Hunk._

" _What are you talking about, you legit fought for me, no one has ever done that for me. We share, deal?" Hunk said pushing one of the sandwiches over to Lance. Lance took the sandwich with a bright smile. "Deal," Lance said taking a bite of his sandwich._

" _Lance! What happened to you?" Mrs. Evergreen stopped Lance, and Hunk, to enter the classroom. "Sorry, Mrs. Evergreen, I fell really unlucky on the stairs. I had forgotten to tie my shoes and tripped. I tried to block the fall with my hand, but ended up giving myself a black eye" Lance said, rubbing his neck with his good hand. "For god's sake, Lance be more careful. Take a friend with you, down to the nurse's office" Mrs. Evergreen sighed and waved them away._

" _I can't believe you sprained your wrist for my sake, you're like the best friend I've ever had," Hunk said excitedly as they left school. "Hey Hunk, do you want to come with me home, I really want my family to meet my best friend," Lance said looking at Hunk with sparkly eyes. "B-best friend? You see me as your best friend" Hunk said starting to tear up. "Yeah, of course, best friends forever," Lance said, opening his hands to a hug, and Hunk almost tripped Lance with the force he hugged him. "Best friends forever," Hunk said with a smile._

" _Hola mama, I'm home" Lance yelled as he opened the door. Marianna McClain came out of the kitchen with a big smile on her face. "Hola mijo," She said with a warm tone, but when she saw her son she gasped. "Qué te ha pasado?" She asked concerned. "It's okay mama, I was in a fight today, Freddy and his gang were bullying Hunk, I just threw myself into battle," Lance said trying to comfort his mom. For the first time, Marianna looked at Hunk. "Oh, hola, you must be Hunk," She said with a smile and shook Hunk's hand. "Yeah, ma'am, I'm Lance's best friend," Hunk said proudly. Lance's mom smiled kindly. "I'm glad my son has found such a polite friend" Hunk smiled at the compliment. "Hijo, when your papa comes home, dinner is served. So go wash your hands" Marianna said with a smile. "Mama is my siblings home," Lance asked as he walked by the kitchen, with Hunk right behind him. "Marco is taking a nap, Luis has a playdate with one of his friends from kindergarten, Veronica is home, she is in her room, and Rachel should be home soon, your father is picking her up from a friend" Lance mom said, checking on the food._

" _Hey Lance, how old are your siblings?" Hunk asked as they washed their hands. "Marco is 2 years old. Luis is 5 years old. Rachel is 7 years old, and Veronica is 12. I'm the second oldest" Lance said proudly, drying his hands._

_Hunk had the best time of his life, Lance's family was so nice. Hunk met Lance's grandparents, both sides. Hunk also met some of Lance's uncle's and aunt's, plus their children. Hunk swore that day that Lance McClain would be his best friend forever and ever._

"Lance… did that… for you" Coran said with a small smile. "Yeah… Lance has always been like that, you know, self-sacrificing or standing up for people, even strangers" Hunk said, looking Coran in the eyes. "Just one thing that annoys me, why did Lance not tell the truth to the teacher?" Coran said. "That bugged me too, so I asked him. He just said 'It's not like they're actually evil'. I mean who can't love that guy, he got beaten up, and still just played it off as an accident. "Yeah that boy is something," Coran said sadly. "Coran, I better get back to read… to read my letter. Are you going to be fine?" Hunk said concerned. "Yeah lad, I'm good," Coran said, curling his mustache. Coran stood up, leaving Hunk alone, and walked over to comfort Pidge, that was shaking heavily, despite that her brother was there hugging her.

xXx

Hunk folded his letter out again, he hadn't started to read it yet, and he didn't know if he could. But he needed to if Lance had left anything important, or even just a goodbye, Hunk needed to see it. He took a deep breath and started to read.

_Dear Hunk,_

_Quiznak, I don't think I have ever been this formal to you._

_Hunk, buddy, my man, you're my best quiznaking friend._

_I love you more than the ocean and your food, yes, I'm serious._

_Because you're my best friend, you deserve the truth, you can tell the others, they should know too._

_Well, here we go. As you know, if you have checked my room, I have a wound, Pidge properly told you how it happened, so that has been kind of hard to get through. I have also been having nightmares, and voices that tell me that I'm not good enough. The special training didn't really help on either of those things, properly made it worse. I haven't slept more than 1-2 hours for at least a month, actually more. I have forgotten to eat most days. I don't joke anymore, because you said shut up on a mission. I don't go to the lab, contribute to the meetings. And even with all of this I know it's not yours or any of the teams fault._

_I'm so sorry._

_I just couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't be a burden for you guys anymore._

_But Hunk, I need you to do something for me._

_You have to make garlic knots for the team, you know my favourite food, I want them to taste it._

_I know you can do it!_

_Hunk, keep making delicious food, I would hate for the team to starve._

_One last thing, Hunk, I'm going to miss you so so much and I love you like family._

_Last bear hug from your best friend,_

_Lance._

Hunk broke down, he hadn't noticed any of this. His best friend had suffered so much and hadn't said anything. In his hands was his last link to the best person in the entire universe, his best friend.

xXx

Matt had seated himself beside Pidge, not because he wanted to read her letter, but because he knew she was going to cry. Her eyes were already blank, and she hadn't even opened the letter. He wrapped his arm around her. Matt opened his envelope, ready to read Lance's words to him.

_Dear Matt,_

_I know we haven't talked much, but I'll miss you a lot._

_You properly wonder, why I didn't talk much to you._

_It's very simple, really._

_I wanted to give Pidge time to be with her long-lost brother, and I didn't want to be in the way for your relationship._

_I know how much she missed you, I heard her cry over losing you and her dad, I saw the smile she had when she introduced you to us._

_Every time she talked about you, she had a smile on her lips._

_She was like a little sister, and I love her so much._

_I know this will hurt her and my whole 'space family', but it's the best thing to do, they deserve better, they don't deserve me._

_That got dark fast, well my life has been dark for some time, so I guess it makes sense._

_Do not come to the dark side, they only have dry cake!_

_Okay, Matt, this is important, I need you to look out for team Voltron, especially Pidge._

_You're properly the one who is going to be the least saddest, no offence._

_You're a Holt, the toughest family in the universe (yes, I found on that title, don't ague)._

_Anyway, this is my goodbye._

_Goodbye Matt, I hope you can feel the hug I'm giving you,_

_Lance._

"Shit" Matt didn't curse often, but when he did, he did it as quiet as possible. As he looked over his letter again, he felt Pidge shake beside him. Lance was right he wouldn't be as sad as the others, so his task should be keeping an eye out for the others. Matt leaned over and hugged Pidge tight. She hadn't even started to read the letter, just looking at her name on the envelope.

When Matt hugged her, she tried to control her breathing. She had to read it, if she didn't, some important info could get lost. Pidge took a deep breath and started to read.

_Dear Pidge,_

_This is hard, writing goodbyes, just never leave, that's the lesson._

_So I guess you have some question, or not._

_Maybe you guys tried tracking my ship, or not, or are on your way to, doesn't matter._

_I have downloaded your NTPM-program, I know you said it's hard and whatever, but you explained how to, so I just did what you said._

_I started to read Hunk's science books two years before you came to the garrison, and when you became our teammate I started to read your books too._

_I guess that's why I understand your techno stuff, that, and the fact I have IQ on 166 which makes me a genius…_

_Now to some more serious things, I know you remember the attack on the galra ship, you know where I got shot._

_You asked if I was hurt, I didn't answer truthfully, I was hurt._

_It got worse, I didn't just have a bleeding wound, but it started to get infected, and quiznak it hurt, especially when I got thrown into a wall (happened a lot to the special training)._

_Why is it your letter turned out this dark, crap._

_Okay, okay, I got an idea to cheer you up, remember that song I was humming at your birthday party, it's called 'space unicorns', and it's really awesome, hear it while you do some tech stuff._

_Pidge, you are like a little sister to me, I love you so much._

_That's why I need you to understand something, I didn't leave you behind, I didn't leave Voltron behind, I did what is best for the team, I let myself go._

_I know it's hard now, but with time you will realize the same, that the team is and will forever be better off without me._

_Bye Pidge, one last hug from your space big brother,_

_Lancylance._

_PS. Everything I have told you is allowed others to read, so is the other letters, I kind of forgot to write it in the other letters, I think._

Pidge couldn't keep it together anymore, she broke down in her brother's arms. Lance hadn't been well in a long time, and no one noticed. They were the worst fucking family in the world and all Pidge could do was cry.

xXx

Allura looked at her name, it was written in a beautiful handwriting.

_Dear Allura,_

_I'm sorry you have to lose more family members, and that is now my fault._

_Allura don't hide your sadness from the team, you don't have to hide, not for your family._

_Ironic of me saying that I'm currently physical hiding for you, and has for a lot of my life hidden for my family and friends mentally._

_I really wish this could have been different, maybe if I had told you about it, or someone had confronted me, but that's not how reality is._

_I had to leave, and Voltron had to live their lives without me._

_I think Hunk was happy, that I started to act normal again._

_I haven't been joking and goofball alike since I was 10, since my dad died._

_If you want to know about it, ask Hunk, on one condition, everyone have to hear it._

_Quiznak, I'm going to miss you, you all, my family, friends, everyone._

_Oh the mouses, please take care of them, tell them I love them too._

_Allura, this is properly the most important thing, it's about Blue._

_I love Blue so much, that it hurts, I just want to give her a hug, but… she won't let me in, I think it's because she knows, if she let me in, she can't let go._

_Blue is the most amazing lion in existents, she is kind, caring and beautiful._

_I love her, and I, god flipping damn it, miss her._

_I miss her purring in my mind, the calm aura around her, her hugs, I miss every single thing about her._

_I'm glad that you were the one taking over her when I left._

_I don't think I could have been able to take it, if it had been a stranger, piloting her, you know._

_Just promise me you will take care of her, please, she will be heartbroken when she finds out._

_I love you just as much as my sisters at home, please take care of yourself and my Blue._

_This is my last hug and goodbye to you,_

_Lance._

Allura didn't cry at first, she was so touched. Lance and Blue's relationship, was amazing, and she felt terrible for coming in between their bond. Hot tears formed in her eyes. The boy had felt bad for so long, and that fact just broke her heart. Allura could feel Blue cry, the blue lion was indeed heartbroken.

xXx

Shiro, looked out at everyone, ready to read his letter, or that was at least what he thought.

_Dear Shiro,_

_Shiro, I'm sorry, but I'm tired, so very tired._

_I can't do this anymore, I hope you understand, I beg you to understand._

_It was properly the special training program that pushed me of the edge, but please don't blame yourself, nothing is your fault._

_I know you have PTSD, so I don't blame you for being stressed and not noticing it._

_Shiro, I still love you, as you were my family and nothing will change that._

_I need you to lead the team, like the leader you are._

_I also need you to keep the team together, I need you to save the universe and free it._

_Shiro, get Keith to be the red paladin, Red want him to be, the team wants him to be, I want him to be._

_Please, just talk to him, okay._

_Anyway, Shiro, I have something that might help on your PTSD, Imagine a box. The four sides represent the four parts of box breathing._

_You breathe in for a count of 4._

_You hold your breath for a count of 4._

_You exhale for a count of 4._

_And you hold for a count of 4._

_I hope it helps you, or something, hehe._

_Shiro, it's time for the goodbye, I don't want to say goodbye, I don't want to leave, but it's for the best._

_Goodbye Shiro, I hope you find closure,_

_Lance._

Shiro couldn't stop crying, Lance didn't blame him. Shiro had blamed himself, and hearing Lance say that it was the training that tipped him of, made everything so much worse. And Shiro couldn't handle it but kept reading. Lance really didn't blame him, and the fact made Shiro feel better. Knowing Lance thought so highly about him, was the thing that gave tears in Shiro's eyes. And even more, that Lance didn't want to leave, but he thought it was for the best, made Shiro's heart break. Shiro just lets it all out, and he just cried.

When Shiro's tears stopped, he looked around again. Almost everyone cried, and they there either hugging another person or hugging themselves. Keith was still looking at the envelope with a blank expression. As Shiro moved closer to Keith, he slowly started to open it.

"Are you ready?" Shiro asked laying a comforting arm around him. Keith nodded and started the read.

_Dear Keith,_

_Do me a favor, cut your hair, your mullet looks ridiculous, just kidding, the mullet has grown on me, and if you cut it, I wouldn't have anything to make fun of._

_But seriously, I'm going to miss making fun of you, and our rivalry._

_About our rivalry, I'm sorry, I know I wasn't close to your level._

_I made up our rivalry, to fool myself, to feel like I was better than I actually was, stupid, huh._

_I'm sorry it had to be you, after a year of being constantly compared to you, I guess it just tricked something inside me like I wanted to show I was just as good or better than you, even though I knew, I wasn't._

_I can never be as good as you, I tried though, I tried so had to just be on a decent level, but I kept being worse._

_I'm sorry I couldn't be better, if I had become better, this wouldn't have happened, I'm so very sorry for all the mistakes I made._

_I'm glad we became kind of friends or something, even though I was still a jerk._

_I wish I could have been a better friend, maybe I wouldn't have been so annoying and obnoxious if I hadn't come up with our rivalry, so I'm sorry about that._

_Shit, I don't like writing goodbyes, there is nothing good about it, I have to say goodbye, but this will make everyone sad._

_Take a look around you, all tears and emotions are my faults, I don't know how bad it is, but I saw them after saying goodbye to you, I have a feeling it's like that or worse._

_I wish they could see it was for the best, I was only a placeholder, first as the blue paladin, when the red paladin._

_About the 'oh no, now Voltron are missing a paladin again' situation, I think you should be Red's paladin._

_Don't come with 'The blades of Marmora needs me', because the universe needs you more as a Voltron paladin than a blade member._

_If you need more reasons, Red is picky and properly only wants you, and I don't want a stranger flying her._

_Keith, the team needs you too, they will be… sad, and they will be needing a hotheaded, grumpy, half purple spacecat._

_I'm only going to say this once, so listen, they need a good second-in-command and you are a really REALLY good second-in-command._

_I know you don't like leading, but you come up with good ideas, you train hard, Shiro listens to you, you have really good instincts and follow your gut._

_I need you to be there, to protect my family, our family, and support them._

_I know it's a lot to ask, but they really need you, I don't know what else to say to convince you._

_Keith, the voices, they told me you would be better, and you are better, you are so much better, I know this, if you just had let me step back, it had changed everything, but I understand._

_It's time for you to come home, your family needs you._

_I love you, Keith, take care._

_One hug, one goodbye hug,_

_Lance_

***With Lance**

"I just have to relax, If I remember right, this should be a galraship with prisoners," Lance said loud to himself as he looked at the spaceship in front of him. He flew his own ship, undetected, closer. Lance had for some time ago memorized a galraship's layout, because it was really practical in battle, so he remembered an emergency exit (or in his case, easy way in). There were guards, but not as many as there should've been. So it was really easy enough for Lance top overrun them, and getting a gun.

Lance ran quietly down the purple halls, down to the prison cells. Lance opened the door with a cut off druid arm. The door opened easily and revealed around 10 aliens of same species. "Our saviour!" the prisoners quietly cheered. "Hey, I'm Lance McClain, a rebel fighter against the galra empire. Let's get you all home" Lance said with a smile and started to get the prisoners out.

Lance had just gotten all the prisoners on an escape pod, when he heard a cruel voice. "Isn't that a paladin of Voltron"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, so Keith's reaction to his letter comes in next chapter. I will talk more about the story in the next chapter, I think. So yeah this is the end of the first chapter, remember to comment and give kudos


	2. 2nd chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going insane or just lonely?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back with a second chapter. Next chapter is going to be the last in this series, so have fun. 
> 
> Just a few warnings before you read: Indicated self-harm, bad description of Lance's injury

Lance didn't turn around, but he knew it was a galra.

" _Former_ paladin of Voltron, get your info straight, dude," Lance said with a smirk, still not turned around.

"Is the paladin scared to face his death?" The galra didn't hide his irritation very well, it was perfect for Lance.

"I've already told you, I'm not a paladin, just a simple rebel and you, my good sir, is just a weak minded galra" Lance made sure that there was just enough mocking in his tone to rub the galra the wrong place, but not as much that he would attack, yet.

"Okay _rebel_ , that doesn't change a thing, maybe even makes it easier" Perfect, the galra bought it and as expected, the galra also ignored the insult.

Lance turned around, with a big grin on his face. "Easier you say, interesting, gotta say, I don't really give a quiznak" Lance pushed the button on his side. He had done it, he had saved some prisoners. Lance heard the galra pod close behind him, and fly off.

The galra, who had spoken to him, looked surprised. Lance couldn't blame him, it did look like a self-sacrifice plan. Sure, he could die here, the universe would be better off without him, but screw it. Lance wasn't just going to die, after all, he had gone through, nope, not gonna happen.

"So that's why you didn't turn around, _rebel_ , writing down coordinates?" The galra said, he sounded like he tried to be corky, but ended up sounding just annoyed.

"Hey, Galra, can I get your name? As a rebel, I must know my opponent's name" Lance said, much more successfully to still talk with a corky voice.

The galra was right, he had written down coordinates to the freed prisoners, but he kind of regretted lending his jacket to the little girl with the prisoners, he was already getting cold. Oh well, not much he could do about that.

"Zyht. That's the name of the one that will be the end of you" Zyht said and charged at Lance with a purple sword.

Lance dodged easily, this guy wasn't even at level 40 (if you took the gladiator scale to judge), but then again, Lance did still have an infected wound, so the hits he took, wasn't good for it.

One problem more, Lance wasn't in an armour. He was in blue pants, and a grey t-shirt with blue elbow length sleeves, not the best get-up to a fight, especially a sword fight. He should really have kept the gun instead of giving it to the prisoners.

Lance kept dodging for a few doboshes, but he could feel his back starting to ache, he had to finish this.

Zyht slashed with his sword towards Lance, it grazed his arm. Great, another scar on his arm. Just thinking that, made Lance think about when he gave his jacket to the little alien girl.

" _Hey, you look cold," Lance said, kneeling in front of the only child of the prisoners. Lance gave the little girl (He at least assumed she was a girl) a gentle smile. She looked up at him with scared eyes but nodded. "You don't have to be scared, you are free," Lance said with a soft voice. When it didn't help, he tried another way to comfort the scared girl. "Okay, here, we can't have you going around freezing" Lance took off his jacket, and handed it to the girl. The alien girl looked at the jacket, she hesitated, she careful react out for it and took the jacket with shaking hands. "Thank you" she mumbled, and slowly took the jacket on. "You're welcome, my lady. Can I get your name" Lance said and kissed the girls little hand. She chuckled lightly, and so did the grown-up aliens. "My name is Mela" Her voice was small and still had some fear in it, but her eyes were shining with joy. "What a lovely name. Anyway, we should get going, don't want to fight guards before necessary" Lance stood up, taking Mela's hand. "Let's get moving," Lance said, guiding the prisoners to where his ship and escape pods were._

" _Rebel Lance, why do you have so many scars on your arms?" Lance flinched at Mela's question, he had really hope that question wouldn't have come up. "Er… reminders of a bad very habit I can't seem to shake" Lance said, looking down on the floor._

_After a few ticks of silence, he could feel her little hand giving his a squeeze. Lance lifted his head, seeing the fear in the girl's eyes as she looked around at the empty halls. Lance squeezed Mela's hand back and send her a small smile. "Don't you worry, you're going to live happily, trust me, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep that promise," Lance said, earning a little smile from the little girl._

_Everyone, but Mela, had entered the escape pod. "Mela, you have to get in, the Voltron alliance will be waiting on the planet" Lance tried, as he kneeled to be in eye-high with her. Her big eyes were filled with tears, as she tugged his jacket more around herself, still refusing to enter the pod._

_Lance opened his arms, a silent invitation to hug him. "You can't be sad, we just met. I'm just a stranger, that by accident is a rebel too" Lance mumbled in her ear when she started to cry. One of the grown-up aliens, padded Lance lightly one the head. Lance looked up at the alien. "I want to thank you, rebel Lance. Your kind heart and spirit is a gift for the universe, take care of yourself" The alien, who seemed like the leader for the prisoners, hold out a hand to Lance. Lance slowly stood up, still holding the sobbing girl in his arms, smiled brightly to the aliens. "It's my pleasure, I wish you all it well, get back safe" Lance sat down Mela and took the alien's hand, nodding a goodbye, before turning to the little girl. "Goodbye Mela" Lance bowed for the girl, as she walked into the ship. "Goodbye rebel Lance" Mela managed through her hiccups._

He had saved them, he had saved Mela. Now, Lance just had to knock out Zyht, and disappear into the endlessness of space.

After fighting for a while, Lance finally got knocked Zyht's sword out of his hands, but it had cost a kick to his side. The scream following the action told Zyht that he had hit a sensitive place. Lance could clearly see the long fangs, the galra had when he smirked. Lance didn't waste time. He kicks Zyht's leg, so he fell on the ground. Lance hurried over to the galra and made a neck lock. Zyht kicked and tried to get air, but Lance holds on. The second the galra stopped fighting, Lance ran over to his ship and jumped in.

Lance flew as fast as the ship allowed, away from the galraship.

***With team Voltron**

Keith just sat with a blank expression. He couldn't explain how he was feeling, he wanted to beat someone up, but he also wanted to sit in a dark room and cry. The letter, oh god the letter, it was filled with so much guilt and sadness, and it somehow still managed to make jokes. Keith slowly stood up and walked firmly out of the room. He walked to Red, he had to talk to her, she had to tell him what was going on.

Shiro looked after Keith but didn't know what to do. They had fucked up, and he didn't know how or if they could fix it. Shiro cleared his throat loudly. "Let's all go to sleep, and talk about the letters tomorrow" Shiro's voice cracked. Everyone nodded, they were exhausted. Pidge and Hunk walked out of the room, or well more like Hunk carried a more asleep than awake Pidge. Coran stood up and excused himself. Allura looked worried at Shiro. "Do you want to talk to Keith, or should I?" Allura asked, placing a comforting hand on Shiro's shaking shoulder. "I think it's best you talk to him, I'm not really ready to talk about letters" Shiro looked up at Allura and gave her a small smile, when he left.

Allura sighed, she didn't want to be the one talking to Keith. But she had to, they all knew how their hotheaded friend could be. Oh god she wished she could get Lance to do it, he was so much better at this, but he wasn't here.

xXx

Keith was in Red's hangar, Allura could hear his voice clearly. "Red, what happened to Lance? Tell me" Keith looked at the big lion in front of him. "I got a letter, he wants me to pilot you, I can't do that without you telling me, what went wrong," Keith said, looking sharply at Red. Suddenly Red lit up, and she roared. "Go to Blue? Why should I go to Blue? He was your paladin," Keith said, but Red just roared again. "Okay, sheesh, I will go to Blue, but if she can't answer my questions, I'll come back" Keith turned around, running towards Blue's hangar.

Keith looked at Blue, she looked worse than Red. Blue looked soul crushed. "Hey girl, if you're up to it, can you answer some questions about Lance," Keith said softly and sat down between Blue's paws. She purred softly as an answer, but Allura couldn't understand, this was meant for Keith, and Keith only. "I will come back in an hour" Allura whispered to herself and walked away.

xXx

' _My cub – Lance – was very special, I loved him'_

Blue's voice was filled with sorrow, and her calm aura was disturbed by worry.

' _He wore a mask, to hide his emotions, to keep the others save'_

Keith was shocked. The always happy, all over the place, obnoxious, loud Cuban, had been hiding his emotions. The ones that would hurt the team, the ones that would worry them. Keith swallowed thickly. Keith shouldn't be shocked, not after the letters, not after all he had read.

' _I talked to him, but had to lock him out, I still hear his broken voice, when I'm alone. When he knocked on my barrier, telling me how beautiful I was. He still comes, talking to me, telling me stuff no one else knows. But I kept being locked, I couldn't let him in if I did, I wouldn't be able to let go'_

Keith looked up, seeing the white metal under Blue's muzzle. It was kind of… funny… interesting… sad, he could see the lion crying, but not really. Keith could see the tears falling off the lion, but they never hit the ground. Maybe it was the lion's quintessence forming its emotions, or maybe it was just magic, Keith didn't know.

' _he said something once to me, he said 'I can't keep my promise about coming back to you. I want to come back, but it's not what Voltron needs' He smiled, but tears betrayed him, he then turned and walked away, that was right before you left'_

Lance had promised to come back but never did, and that was Keith's fault, or Allura's, or maybe all of them's.

' _Red's cub, do not for one second think it's your fault, or anyone else's. My cub knew what the war required, he knew that if he could do something that could save one life, he would. He might not have done the right thing, but he sure did it because he thought it was best. Lance never trusted himself, he never saw himself worthy of anything coming to him. He only showed little parts of his broken mind, soul, and heart to me. I know we could've healed him over time, but he didn't show it, and it only broke him more'_

The silence felt over the hangar. Blue and Keith didn't talk, not anymore, they just tried to comfort each other. Keith's eyes were burning, he didn't want to cry, he needed to be strong. But Keith's body had other plans. His eyes got blurry, and hot tears slowly fell down his cheeks, and down on the metal floor. Keith hid his face in his hands. Keith hadn't cried in a long time, it was weird, and he hated it. What if someone saw him, Keith would die of embarrassment. Keith felt Blue's warm aura embrace him, it made him relax, feel safe.

' _Keith, I want to show you something, It's a conversation my cub and I had, right before you left, I think it's important for you to see, make you understand better'_

Keith nodded, he was not sure it was a good idea, but he wanted to know what a Lance had said to this big lion.

_Blue sat with her barrier up, dull eyes, offline. A signature came through the door. Lance. It was hard to see his face or any details, it was dark, properly in the middle of the night. Blue didn't flare up like she used to. She kept being dark, but there had been one glint of light in her eyes, she was present. "Hey, beautiful" Lance said, his voice rough and shaky. "Blue is a good color on you" Lance offered, as he seated himself in front of Blue. "Yeah, I didn't think it was going to work either," Lance said and laughed a bitter laugh. The room was cold and the silence was suffocating. Lance started to hum, it was a sweet and warm melody. Tears fell down on the floor, but the humming continued. It started to stutter a little, as Lance tried to suppress his sobs. The melody turned sad, and Lance stutters a lot through it. When the humming stopped, all to be heard was the soft sobs of Lance's broken voice. Lance slowly got a hold of himself. He looked up at the lion before him, still with teary eyes. "Blue, I know you can hear me. I understand why you won't let me in, I wouldn't be able to let go either" Lance said with a weak smile. "I loved all our memoirs, the first time we flew together, how your jokes made me laugh, and your comfort made all my worries go away. I promised that when Shiro came back, I would storm right back to you, but I can't do that, not anymore. I can't take Allura's place, she has improved more than I could ever do. I wish it was different, but I think… no, I know, it would be best if I stepped down. I tried to talk to Keith, but he just brushed it off. I can't keep my promise about coming back to you. I'm going to miss everything about you. The way your purr encourage me to do my best" Tears welled down from Lance's eyes. "Please understand, I want to come back, but it's not what Voltron needs. Red needs Keith back, her heart is breaking, when she sees Keith fly Black. I know you miss me, but you at least got an update of a paladin" Lance tried to control himself. He stood up, dried his eyes, and turned away. Lance disappeared through the door, and darkness filled the quiet hangar_

"Oh quiznak" Keith muttered silently, everything was rambling down on him. Keith closed his eyes, he breathed in and out slowly. He could feel was Blue's present, it was nice. Keith didn't know how long he sat like that, but he was suddenly pulled out of his bubble by a hand on his shoulder.

Keith opened his eyes and saw Allura. "Hey, shouldn't you be sleeping?" Keith asked as he stretched himself, and got up from the sitting position. "Nope, I couldn't sleep, too much information in the letter, so I decided to check up on you," Allura said with a sad smile. They just stood in the hangar, not talking.

"Everyone, come to the bridge, I got an idea" Pidge's voice sounded over the speakers. Keith and Allura exchanged one look and started to run to the bridge.

xXx

"So, my idea was that Lance could have gone back to earth, so if we contact my dad, we could ask him or talk to Lance's family" Pidge explained as soon as everyone was present, which went surprisingly fast considering that they had been commanded to rest. Pidge typed in something on the computer, and the screen showed something that looked like Skype. The computer opened a big hologram of the screen (Like the one they used when they had meetings with boM or the rebels) and started to ring. Around 3 ticks later someone picked up. The guy had a garrison uniform on, and blond hair. "Hello, this is earth, identify yourself and your business with earth," He said. "This is Katie Holt, the green paladin of Voltron. I have an emergency, and I would like to talk to commander Holt" Pidge said. The blond guy nodded and told one of his colleagues to get the commander.

"Katie, what is the emergency?" Sam said concerned. "Do you remember Lance McClain?" Pidge asked, and the commander's face turned confused. "The guy in blue armour, but is the red paladin? Yeah, I remember him, you said he was like a brother to you and he made lots of pranks with you" Sam said, still looking confused. "Have you seen him, has he landed on Earth?" Pidge said. She crossed her fingers under the table, praying he had. "No, can't say I have seen him or heard anything about him landing on earth. Why do you ask?" Commander Holt narrowed his eyes at his daughter. Pidge looked ready to cry. "Can we talk to his family, or just one family member, maybe they have heard something from him" Hunk suddenly said desperately. "If you tell me why, I will get a family member, deal?" Sam said looking superstitious at the paladins. "Deal," Pidge said and explained all they knew about the situation.

Without a word, commander Holt turned to the blond guy, that had first picked up their call, and asked him to get someone called Veronica. Hunk thought the name sounded familiar, but couldn't really put a finger on it.

"Commander Holt, you wanted me to come?" the person that was speaking, was a woman that had just entered the room. The woman had brown hair and tanned skin, ocean blue eyes and glasses. She was also wearing a garrison uniform. "Yeah, Hello Veronica, This is the paladins of Voltron, they have some questions about Lance" By the mention of Lance's name, the woman, who apparently was Veronica, started to look concerned. Veronica turned and looked at the team, her eyes stern, and expression unreadable. "What do you want with my baby brother, is he not already your teammate" Her voice was so cold, that everyone shivered.

"Y-your brother?" Shiro stammered out. "Lance McClain, Blue paladin, Red paladin," Veronica said with a silent 'Duh'. Hunk face suddenly lighted up, as he realized something. He pushed Pidge aside so he was in focus. "Veronica is that you? It's me, Hunk, Lance's best friend" Hunk said exited. Veronica's face also lit up, and her cold expression softens a little. "Hunk is that really you, it's so good to see you," Veronica said happily. She and Hunk chatted a little, mostly about how their families were doing.

Shiro loudly cleared his throat, reminding Veronica and Hunk about Lance. Veronica's expression hardened again, and Hunk jumped back into the background. "I have noticed Lance is not with you, so where is my baby brother" Veronica pushed her glasses up and looked them all in the eyes. "Wow, she is observant, either that or we're really bad at hiding it" Pidge mumbled to Hunk, unfortunately for them, Veronica heard the comment. "I would say both. I'm smart, sure, but not near my brother's level. Now, where is my brother?"

They explained everything that had happened, the best way they could. They had expected Veronica to look scared or concerned, maybe even confused, she was none of those. Well, sure, she looked concerned and scared, but that was only when she heard about their fights and his injuries. "God, after what Commander Holt told me about Lance, I thought he finally was happy again. I guess he just acted like it, that idiot" Veronica said angrily, slamming her hand down in the table so everything was shaking. She stood up, walking around in the room, cursing silently in Spanish.

This made Allura curious. "Excuse me, Veronica was it? You seem angry, not the emotion that I had expected. I would guess, by the word you're using, that Lance's behaviour must have changed with him coming into space, am I right?" Allura said looking at Lance's big sister.

"I guess he didn't tell you, makes sense, if he did act like a goofball, he properly thought it would be bad telling you guys," Veronica said, but they weren't sure if it was to them or to herself. Allura needed an answer, but could she tell the others about his dad, he had said that if she wanted to know the others should hear. "Do you think it would be okay to reveal something from Lance's letter to me?" Allura asked the other paladins, they started to discuss, would it be okay, a lot of personal information was given to them. Pidge stood up, looking at the others. "At the end of my letter, Lance says, and I quote, 'Everything I have told you is allowed others to read, so is the others letters, I kind of forgot to write it in the other letters, I think'. So everything Allura wants to say about the letter she got, is okay too, at least for Lance it is" Pidge said, looking intense at Allura.

Allura sighed. "In my letter, he talked about a lot of things. How sorry he was, and wished for it to be different, and how much he was going to miss us all, and Blue. But he also said that Hunk would be happy since he started to act normal again? And he hadn't acted like that since he was ten and his dad died. I wanted to know more, and I think now is the perfect time to ask" Allura looked at Veronica, almost pleading with her to tell them about it. "Did he give you permission to know more about it?" Veronica asked, looking lost. She didn't want to offend her brother but these people where his family too, and you shouldn't keep secrets for family. Allura nodded, he had given her permission. "I guess I could tell you when, but I need Hunk's assistants" She looked over at the large boy, and he nodded.

"Lance, was a happy child, and hardworking, he helped out people, and couldn't stand bullies" Veronica chuckled and winked to Hunk.

"He was also really annoying and outgoing. But not long after his 10 years birthday, our dad had to go on a mission. It was for the garrison, he was the pilot, but he crashed, he was shot down by terrorists" Veronica's express sadden, but she continued.

"Our dad didn't survive, his co-pilot did. The co-pilot, his name was George, felt guilty. Our dad, he saved him, after they crashed, he pushed him out of the way for the explosion of the plane" Coran looked in shock at Veronica, remembering the first week of the paladins being on the ship, the day Lance had gotten blown up.

"When he came to apologize, Lance was the one to greet him. The pilot explained everything, and said 'It's okay if you hate me, It's my fault your dad is dead'. Lance looked at him and smiled. 'How could I, hate the man, my dad thought so highly about, that he offered his life to save him'. I have never admired anyone more than him at that moment" Veronica tried to blink back the tears in the corners of her eyes, only a few escaped.

"After our dad died, everything became harder, our mom, had to work two jobs, and Lance, and I, helped with either extra money or doing chores. My brothers, Marco and Luis, were not easy, Luis just started school, and Marco, kindergarten. And Rachel was still coping with our dad's death" Veronica breathed in and out before continuing her tale.

"Lance, on the other hand, did almost all the housework and still finished on top of his class. He worked his butt out, to get a scholarship, for both him and Hunk, to get into the garrison. Even after getting to the Garrison, Lance continued to work part-time and sent all the money, he got, home" Veronica's voice broke. "Hunk, could you please take the rest?" Veronica managed to say, looking at the yellow paladin.

Hunk nodded slowly, knowing it was hard for Veronica to talk about her dad. He cleared his throat and started to speak. "We were 13 when our principal called us, he told us that we had won the scholarship to the garrison, this was the first time I heard Lance laugh since his father's death. He took out his phone and called George, and told the news. I remember hearing him yell congrats through the phone" Hunk smiled brightly at the memory.

"When we took off to the garrison, Lance promised to come every weekend, to clean and wash clothes, taking some of the burden from his mom. We were roommates and had the basic school classes together. As all of you know, I wanted to be an engineer, and Lance a pilot, so we had different classes in that. At that time, Lance didn't like standing out and had no intention to do anything social other than what he did with me" Hunk swallowed hard before continuing.

"Not many know this, but Lance has this special social skill, it makes him good at reading people. So when we sat in class, Lance would look at people, mostly they looked bored or interested, but the second he picked up on someone being irritated or sad, sometimes angry, he would stand up do something stupid. When the teacher was yelling at someone, Lance would do something worse and get the attention, and get yelled at. When people forgot homework, Lance would say he hadn't done him either, so they wouldn't be alone, even if he had done all of his" Hunk smiled, and a proud look was in his eyes.

"Under the flying practice, in the simulated, there was this kid, he was reckless and didn't listen to anyone, and well, Lance volunteered to be his co-pilot. Now, I'm sure the kid was Keith, so I will try not to say everything he did wrong" Hunk looked over at Keith, who looked completely confused.

"Lance and Keith did fly good, but, again, Keith didn't want to listen to anyone, so it was hard for Lance to help co-pilot something, where the other pilot tried to piss off the teachers. Every time it was something with working together with the others, they failed. They would come out, Keith looking emotionless as ever and Lance had a hard face expression. Iverson would look at them and asked who's fault it was. Lance could easily put the blame on Keith, which every student knew was true, but he didn't. Lance would say that he made some mistake, and get yelled at for half an hour" Hunk said matter of factly.

"The first time he did it, Keith looked surprised at him, I don't think he understood why, I, to this day, still don't understand it. One day I was walking Lance to detention after he had taken the blame for one of Keith's stunts. We didn't pay attention to anything. Suddenly someone punched Lance in the face, he was completely surprised, and just went straight to the floor. Lance looked up, holding his cheek. Keith stood and looked down on Lance. 'Back the fuck away, I can handle myself' Keith's voice was so filled with hatred, he almost looked ready to punch Lance in the face again. Lance stood up slowly, so he could look Keith in the eyes. 'No way, I'm going to keep taking the blame, until you get your shit together' Lance said with a cold voice and walked the last bit to the detention room. This was the second time I have heard Lance curse, the first time was when he roasted a bully called Freddy the first time we met" Hunk looked at Keith intensely.

"To this day I have only heard him curse 10 times, all in which he was very angry, sad or wanted a point across. Keith actually started to listen to the teacher, a little. When they started to do single flying again, and Keith never talked to us again. The last year of our time at the garrison, right after Keith left, and Pidge started. Lance started to be more social, he cracked some jokes and smiled. I think he was happy that he had made a fighter pilot like he had made his dad proud. But, when the teachers started to compare Lance to Keith and say the only reason he was a fighter pilot, was because Keith dropped out, Lance took that pretty hard. I don't think there is more to the story" Hunk finished, he had talked for a long time, and almost everyone had tears in their eyes after both his and Veronica's words.

"Oh god, that's awful," Allura said shocked. Keith looked stunned, he felt super guilty, he was such a terrible person, when he was younger. Keith didn't know what to say so he just blurted out the first thing coming to his mind.

"Lance was Taylor?" Keith said looking at Pidge and Hunk. The comment destroyed every tension that was in the are, and it threw them both into a laughing fit. Pidge that had just for a moment ago looked like she was going to hit Keith in the face, got her to laugh under control. "So that stupid story about 'the first year of flying class they called me the tailor because of how I thread the needle' was true? And Keith you thought his name was Taylor, best thing ever" Pidge laughed. Keith blushed lightly.

Shiro still needed one question answered. "Veronica, we wanted to ask if Lance had come back, but judging on your reaction, you haven't seen him. Could you tell me, why he hadn't come back, I know, how much he missed you" Shiro said, looking intense at Veronica. "I don't know, he must have had a reason" Veronica stated sadly. "When you find him, give him one big hug, from me," Veronica said, looking at each of them.

"And when you are going to bring him back so Puedo cortarle las partes varoniles, atiborrárselos en la garganta y sacarle los ojos" Veronica switched easily to her mother tongue, and started to rambling angry in Spanish. "I have a feeling I don't want to know the translation for that" Keith said with a low voice. "You really don't" Hunk said, being the only person, besides Veronica, to understand Spanish. That comment made both Pidge and Keith chuckle.

xXx

"We are at a dead end, I have absolutely no idea, where Lance could have gone to," Allura said, and hid her face in Coran's shoulder. Everyone looked lost and tired, when Matt's rebel contact phone thing, started to ring. He quickly answered the call.

"Matthew Holt here, who is speaking… Olia, long time no see, what's the reason for your call… I see… Really? None of your rebels… Are you sure that's what they said… no, I'm not doubting you, But it was Lance McClain… I will get Voltron there ASAP… see you in a Varga" Matt hung up the rebel phone and smiled at the team. "I just got a lead on Lance"

xXx

"So he freed some prisoners," Pidge asked as they were landing. "Yeah, or that's at least what we think" Matt looked down at the planet.

Matt was the first one to get out of the castle. He ran down to Olia, giving her a bro hug. "So can we meet the prisoners," Matt asked more serious than some of the paladins had ever seen him be. "Yeah, if you're up to it," Olia said and shook the others hands. The team looked at each other, nodding, agreeing to do it. "I think we are ready," Matt said confirming. "Okay, Follow me" Olia turned at walk into the building, with the paladins right behind her.

Pidge looked around, there was a lot of people. Some were wearing prison clothing, and some were wearing armour, and some were even wearing normal clothes. Pidge looked amazed at the different species. Suddenly her eye cut something familiar, she turned to the side.

Pidge ran as fast as she could, she heard the others yelling at her, but she didn't listen. She stopped at the person that she had spotted. "Where… where did you get that jacket" Pidge looked into the dark purple eyes, of the little girl in front of her. "Rebel Lance lent it to me, I didn't get the change to give it back" Sadness displayed in the little girl's eyes. Pidge opened her mouth to say something but was cut off my Keith.

"What the quiznak, Pidge, you can't just run off like that" Keith yelled as he walked up to Pidge and the girl. Keith looked at the girl, who was obviously scared of him. Keith's eyes soften. "That's Lance's jacket" Keith looking the girl in the eyes. The girl nodded. "Rebel Lance lent it to me" She repeated. Keith wasn't very good at children, but he could handle this, for Lance. Keith bowed down on his knee, so he was in eye-high. "Hi, my name is Keith, I'm a friend of Lance. And what's your name?" Keith said, giving the girl his hand. "My name is Mela," Mela said and took Keith's hand with a smile. Pidge introduced herself in a similar way and started to tell Mela about Lance.

When the others finally found them, Keith was telling about his bonding moment with Lance. "He looked straight at me saying 'we did it, we are a good team'. I then carried him, bride way, to the cryo-pod. When he came out, he said and I quote 'nope, don't remember, didn't happen'" Keith said angrily. "He's at it again" Shiro sighed, as he walked up to the laughing girls, and the very angry Keith. "Keith, remember why we are here," Shiro said, and looked at Keith. "Relax, this girl is friends with Lance," Pidge said before Keith could answer. "Oh, I was wondering, where she had run off to," Olia said and smiled to Mela. "These are Lance friends. They want to talk to you, and the others that Lance helped escape" Mela nodded determinedly.

"So, Lance, the rebel who saved us, was indeed a paladin of Voltron" The leader of the group stated. His name was Tadil. He was the same species as Mela and the rest of the freed prisoners. They looked like humans but had greenish skin and purple eyes. Their hair was dark, and they only had four fingers. Their ears where the most special, they were like a mix of Altean ears and squirrel, the ears sat a little higher than it did on the Alteans, and in the tip, some hair came out, just like squirrels, it made them look pretty cute. All their other features were like humans.

"Yes, or he left Voltron," Olia said looking at Tadil. "I didn't know you could leave Voltron. But since he chose to become a rebel, he didn't go the galra side" Tadil looked at the paladins questioning. "Yeah, he is still on our side," Pidge said bitterly.

"Him leaving, does it have something to do with his reminders of a bad habit" Mela's little voice sounded, from the ground, where she sat with Keith. "W-what did you say," Hunk said, wishing he had heard wrong. "His reminders of a bad habit" Mela repeated. "And what do you mean by that" Keith asked, trying his best not to sound desperate. But Mela looked at him like she couldn't fully understand.

"I don't understand your question, you must have seen his arms, you said you were his family" Mela looked really confused. "What's with his arms," Pidge asked concerned. "They are filled with scars, rebel Lance called them reminders of a bad habit" Mela explained. The team looked horrified at each other.

"Was… was the scars n-new or old?" Keith asked with a trembling voice. "Some looked recent, others looked more than 3 years old," Mela said confidently. "If I may ask, how can you be sure about this" Allura didn't sound like she didn't believe the girl, just curious about the confidence in her words. "I want to be a doctor, so I can help people in this war, after meeting Lance, my dream has become bigger," Mela said with bright eyes. "When you find rebel Lance, please let me know, I want to give him back his jacket personal" The paladin nodded, and said their goodbyes.

"Thank you, Olia. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to talk to them" Matt said, still shocked over what had happened. "I hope you find him, please come here when you do, I got some rebel's that want to say their thanks to him for bringing them friends or family members back," Olia said. She waved them off as they walked to the castle.

***With Lance**

Lance was so grateful for his ship to go under the rater. His eyes were unfocused, and everything hurt. He had pushed himself too far. He just has couldn't handle to get attacked or even just checked by the galras. Lance looked at his bare arms, filled with scars. He missed his jacket, the warmth and comfort it gave, it almost made him forget what he had done to his arms. Lance bandaged his arms, that now had a few new scars, the only difference was that he hadn't made them himself. When he was done, he sat the ship on auto-pilot, and to alarm him if any ship was near. He when took a shower and a nap.

Lance was woken up by a loud alarm. The scanners had found a ship close by. Lance hurried into the control room, still in lion-slippers and his clothes from yesterday. He looked at the scanners vision on the ship. Looked like a cargo ship, and fortunately for Lance, it also didn't seem like a galra cargoship, more like a rebel ship. Suddenly the screen showed an 'incoming call' message. Lance debated to let the connection go through.

"Cargo ship 2253 – Rebel base 14 – Rebel code: H-H-L-55431 speaking, come in blue ship, who am I talking to?" A male voice cut through. Lance didn't know how to answer. "Cargo ship 2253 – Rebel base 14 – Rebel code: H-H-L-55431 speaking, come in blue ship, who am I talking to?" the voice repeated. Lance gathered his courage and hit the bottom that allowed the other person to hear him. "Lance McClain…" Lance looked around hoping that anything could help him when something caught his eyes " – Rebel code: V-R-A-25578," Lance said confidently. "Rebel VRA25578, what is your mission?" The voice asked. Lance murmured a silent 'Yes' over the guy believing him. "No mission, returning to Rebel base 12," Lance said, still sounding confident, knowing that what he said existed.

After a Dobosh of silence, the man's voice sounded "Confirmed, go on" The connection broke, and Lance let out a sigh. "Thank the universe for this ship's former owner was a forgettable rebel," Lance said and touched the engraved rebel code on the cockbeat. Lance when started to speed up, if rebel HHL55431, decided to check who rebel VRA25578 really was.

When Lance was long enough away, he finally relaxed. Lance took out his knitting kit, maybe he could make something for Mela if he would see her again. Maybe the others too, of course, it would be some time before he would see them again.

Gosh, he missed them, like crazy, what was the reason for him to feel this way? He had helped them, he had set them free for their burden aka himself. Lance was starting to doubt his reasons, what if he had been wrong? Lance was alone with his thoughts and the silence. The only sound was the comforting clicking from the knitting pins. Lance wished he just could be free of the memories that over-floated his mind.

_Lance, Lance, Lance. You're right, what if you are wrong? You could go back if you want to find the answer, but it could hurt you and them even more._

Lance looked over to the co-pilot seat. Great. He was going insane. The seat was taken by himself, or a version of him.

_Oh, I didn't mean to scare you, ah well, is this better?_

The thing changed into Keith. "Perfect, just perfect" Lance mumbled and continued to knit. "So, what are you? A spirit, alien, magic?" Lance said, looking at the creature.

_Just a fraction of your mind, nothing more, nothing less._

"Why Keith when, if you're me, you would know I hate his guts" Lance looked at the creature that smirked in such a un-keithy way.

_You don't say. But I would say you're lying._

"And why should I lie about hating his guts. we're Lance and Keith, neck 'n' neck" Lance questioned the creature, still not paying too much attention to it.

_All the socks you have been giving him tells another story._

"Those are just… eh, friendly friendship gifts. I was just making sure he wouldn't feel lonely with the Blades" Lance defended.

_Lonely like yourself?_

"Damn you're pushy, can't you just leave it be" Lance was starting to get irritated.

_Oh, did I stuck a nerve? Anyway, by the sound of it, you don't hate his guts._

"Whatever" Lance sighed.

_But is it just friendship, or something… deeper?_

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

_I don't know, I wasn't the one saying 'I love you' in my last goodbye to Keith._

Lance stared at the creature, unsure of what to say. His mind was so damn annoying, even more as Keith. "I said 'I love you' to them all, not only Keith, so I don't see what you mean" Lance started knitting again, not really sure when he stopped.

_Sure, or at least most of them. But Keith's 'I love you' had a different vibe to it, more… heartfelt and… loveable_

Why did the thing have to smile like that, smile like Keith did. The smile softens Keith features and made them look perfect. "I don't know what you're talking about"

_Of course, you don't, just try thinking about it, will ya_

Lance just humph and turned away from the creature.

***With the paladins**

Keith sat silently on the observation deck, knowing all too well that it was Lance's favourite place, in the castle. Where you would normally look at the stars, Keith was looking at his only picture of Lance. It was the same picture that Lance had taken with him. Keith had been back for a short amount of time, some mission that required being with the team, that was the only reason he was in the picture.

Keith couldn't hide the smile that spread on his lips when he saw Lance in the picture. Lance looked so damn happy but was it real, or just a mask like it had been for some time. Keith's fingers went over the surface of the picture, and he looked at Lance beautiful eyes that was shining.

Wait, what?!

Keith shook his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts. He did totally NOT think Lance was cute or beautiful or handsome, no, not at all.

Keith could feel his face heat up, the more he thought about it. But he couldn't help it, Lance was just SO hot, like a… dessert. Lance's eyes were blue like a thousand oceans, filled with the stars from every galaxy. And Lance's ass, damn, that ass was perfect.

Bad Keith, stop thinking about that. Lance was out there, still hurt, alone, and not emotionally stable.

The door opened, so Keith turned to see the short person step in. Pidge. She nodded to Keith and sat down beside him.

"This sucks," Pidge said quietly. "We can agree on that" Keith mumbled back. The silence was filled with tension but also comfort, a really weird combo. "Looking at the picture? That must have been the last time you saw him, right?" Pidge asked, trying to start a conversation. "Yeah, it was. I should've suspected something, when he didn't text me in over 2 months" Keith stated, not looking at Pidge. "That's right, you texted a lot, almost every day, right?" Pidge said, sounding a little surprised, remembering how it used to be. "Yeah, he was so excited telling me that we could talk together. L-Lance help me when I just wanted to punch someone, he always listened to me" Keith looked Pidge in the eyes for the first time.

Pidge was stunned by the hurt in his eyes, the deep pain that was shown in his features. "We are going to find him, Keith. He is out there, saving people" Pidge said and hugged Keith. Keith, normally being the awkward, emo, no-touching teen, just embraced the hug. Everything in his world was crumbling, and maybe, just maybe, that hug could hold it up until they found Lance. Keith could feel Pidge stiffing in surprise when he just accepted the hug with no hesitation. But she soon relaxed and embraced the hug too. Keith could feel Pidge sob into his shoulder, he, himself, shed some quiet tears too.

"I feel so out of character, I don't remember crying this much, ever," Pidge said when they pulled apart. She sat trying to dry her eyes. "Yeah, I know what you're saying," Keith said with a sighed. "Didn't you cry a lot when your father and brother disappeared?" Keith asked. "Not really, I was mostly angry, you know, at the garrison," Pidge said, looking at Keith with a small smile. "I can understand that, I too, was angry at the garrison," Keith said knowingly. Silence fell again over the two.

"I can't believe it has been three quintants since he left" Keith was the one who broke the silence. "Yeah, it doesn't even feel that long" Pidge agreed. "I hope he has food and water… Quiznak, what if he doesn't, he could be dying, and I just sit here doing nothing" Keith started to panic, thinking of every way Lance could be in danger. "Keith, I'm sure he's fine, he is tough as a Swathian Meerakeet" Pidge said, trying to calm him. "Wasn't that the creature that attacked you in the Voltron show?" Keith asked when he had gotten his mind under control again. "Yep and our bayards didn't do shit," Pidge said, laughing a little of the memory.

xXx

Keith woke up, stiff in his whole body. His arm was also numb, as he looked to find the cause of it, he saw a sleeping Pidge. "Pidge, my arm is sleeping, so move your ass," Keith said, poking Pidge on her cheek. "5 more minutes," Pidge said jerking away from Keith, that continued to poke her. "Okay, okay I will get up" Pidge finally said, and jerked up to sit. "Arh, we wouldn't have slept on the floor if Lance had been here," Pidge said irritated, as she stretches her own very stiff body. "He would've carried us to our beds and tucked us in" Keith laughed. "Exactly, I can't count how many time he has done it from me," Pidge said, also laughing. "But you know what, sleeping on the floor with you reminded me of home," Pidge said quietly.

"How can sleeping on the floor in a spaceship remind you of home" Keith chuckled. "I don't know, it just reminds me of when Matt and I were kids" Pidge sighed. "I'm still confused on how it can remind you if that" Keith said again. "Matt and I would sometime lay on the floor, and talk until we fell asleep, I guess it just seemed like the same thing, because I see you as a brother" Pidge mumbled, looking away embarrassed. Keith sat a little shocked, just looking at her. "I see you as a sister too" He finally said, still taking in the information. "Anyway, how long were we asleep?" Keith said to change the subject. "About 6 Vargas, It's around time to eat," Pidge said, looking at her space-watch. "Okay when… The last one to reach the kitchen is Weblum" Keith yelled as he started to run. "Get back here" Pidge yelled and started to sprint after him.

"I won," Keith said, still trying to catch his breath. "Nu-uh! You cheated, you roasted tomato" Pidge said, also trying to catch her breath. Keith just smiled, and sat down on his old chair, Pidge rolled her eyes and sat down next to him. "Huuuuuunnnnnnk, what do you have for breakfast" Pidge whined. Keith didn't say anything, but his stomach growled loudly, which was speaking for itself. "I got some bacon and scrambled eggs, or at least I think that's what it is," Hunk said with a light chuckle. It was the first time since Lance had left, that someone was laughing. Hunk knows it would make Lance happy that they weren't sad all the time, that fact alone warmed Hunk's heart.

"This is delicious," Matt said, almost choking on the food because he ate too fast. "This is coffee, I have missed coffee so much" Shiro looked like he was in heaven. Hunk felt so proud, he made this food. "What do you think La-" Hunk stopped himself, as he looked at the empty chair next to him. Silence fell over everyone, the tension started to build up, they all just looked at the empty chair. "Let's all eat up and get searching for Lance," Allura said, trying to ease the tension. "Yeah, maybe we could check some galra recordings, you know try to find the ship Lance freed prisoners from" Pidge suggested slurped some bacon into her mouth. "Good idea" Shiro cheered and drank some more coffee.

xXx

"So I found the spaceship by the escape pod's series number. It is a little ship, so the security isn't that great, so hacking the security cameras was really easy" Pidge said, after sitting at her computer for two Vargas straight. "I think I found the camera that will show us Lance" Pidge hesitated for a second before starting the tape.

A few robots were walking back and forth, otherwise, nothing was really happening. A few ticks later, a shadow kicked one of the robots and stole its gun. The shadow shot the remaining guards before they could alert anyone on the ship. The shadow walked out in the light and revealed his face, it was Lance.

Lance shot off an arm of one of the robot guards. He moved in some kind off a mix between tiptoeing and running down the hall, and out their vision. Around thirty doboshes later he came back (Of course the team had just fast played forth to where he came back), this time he had around ten people with him, and some very exposed arms. He holds Mela's hand as they walked towards an escape pod, the girl they had met in the rebel base. ("Should I turn up the sound?" Pidge asked the others and they nodded in response) "Everyone get into the escape pod! We don't know when the galras will discover we're here, so let's hurry" Lance's voice was clear, and the aliens nodded understanding.

As every alien walked past Lance, they said their thank you's. Lastly, only Mela was not inside the escape pod, she was starting to tear up. "Mela, you have to get in, the Voltron alliance will be waiting on the planet" Lance was now on his knees, as he invited her to give him a hug. (Pidge could feel the tears pressing behind her eyes, so she fast forward to the time, where the galra came, plus they already know what was going to happen)

"Isn't that a paladin of Voltron" A cold voice sounded, and out of the shadows stepped a galra ("He must be the commander of the ship, look at his uniform" Hunk said, pointing at the galra. "So Lance fought the commander? Let's hope everything went well" Shiro said concerned, and everyone hummed in agreement) The commander and Lance went back and forth bickering at each other.

The commander slowly lost his chill and started to sound more angry and irritated. Lance, on the other hand, kept sounding cocky, and pushed every single button he could to tricker the galra, even though he continued to have his back turned to the galra commander. When Lance finally turned, to face the galra, he pushed the escape pod button to send it off.

The galra, who apparently was named Zyht, charged at Lance, that easily dodged. ("wait a tick, how could Lance dodge that so easy?" Keith asked, looking at Shiro. "I… We put Lance in a special training program, I don't know which level he is right now, but for about a month ago, he said he was at level 60" Shiro shrugged. "He is at level 150," Pidge said, showing her computer screen so they could see the scoreboard. "Wow" Keith mumbled "That explained why he is faster than an angry klanmüirl," Coran said, like a matter of fact. "Yeah, because we all know what that means," Hunk said sarcastically)

The fight continued and some pretty hard kicks were delivered. At one point, Zyht's sword grazed Lance's left arm, it wasn't that bad, it only bled a little, but it was an addition to his already big collection. After a few ticks of fighting in near silence, only a few corky comments from Lance and growls from Zyht in response, Lance got a hard side kick at his side. Lance's scream was loud and filled with pain (A few muffled gasps and sobs could be heard, especially the ones knowing how bad his injury actually was), even in pain Lance moved quickly and got Zyht knocked out. He ran into his own ship and disappeared.

"At least we know he's not dead or captured," Pidge said, turning off the tape. The silence was suffocating, it had been their only lead and now… now they had nothing. Suddenly Pidge, opened her computer, starting to type in super speed. "Pidge, what are you doing?" Keith asks as he recognized the galra letters on the screen. "Hacking another camera," Pidge said, still completely into what she was doing. "Can I ask why?" Shiro asked. "To see Lance's ship" Pidge didn't elucidate. "Oh, ohhhh, can I help?" Hunk said as if he understood the reason. "Sure, help me look through this photage" Pidge answered, and Hunk took a seat next to her. Keith and Shiro exchanged a look and took a seat with the Alteans to wait.

xXx

"I think I got it" Hunk exclaimed. The tape from the camera popped up on the big screen.

It was from a different angle, but pretty much the same thing that happened, that was at least what Keith thought. "Well, that was a wast-" Keith started to talk, but got interrupted by Pidge squeaking in excitement. "Perfect, maybe I can track it from here" Pidge was already back in her computer mode. "Eh, Hunk, can you explain what you guys are doing?" Keith asked, tapping Hunk lightly on the shoulder. "Of course, buddy, So it's how Pidge found this galra ship, by the serial number for the escape pod. So if we could get the number for Lance's ship, we could search for it in the rebel base, or ask all the rebel's to be on the lookout for it" Hunk said and looked back at the screen.

"Got it, BLUE-23378" Pidge yelled about 40 doboshes later. "I will go call Olia, and ask her to keep her guys on the lookout," Matt said walking away to make the call. "I will search the rebel database," Coran said, starting to search. "I will help" Allura hurried to say, also starting to search. "Okay… I guess I will just sit here and drink the rest of my milkshake until you are done" Keith said awkwardly.

***With Lance**

Lance had dozed off for a few Vargas. The last thing he remembered was discussing with his mind's Keith version, not that the thing had any resembles with the real Keith, other than looks. Lance had been woken up by a sharp pain in his back, he should really go to a doctor. He might deserve the pain but he didn't deserve the peace that would come with death.

Lance was a people person, not a lone wolf, maybe that was why his mind had made a fake Keith he could talk to. Lance almost always knew, how people were feeling. He had actually used most of his life to learning, how to read people, so he could help (or hurt) them the best way possible. Lance shook his head, not the time to think about the past or sanity.

Lance stripped down to his boxers, and to change the bandages that covered his back. "This looks bad," Lance said to himself. His whole lower back was a mix of greenish, yellowish and purplish. The wound was bloody, and you could clearly see the infection. Lance applied the Altean cream, that supposedly should help on infected wounds, and bandaged it. Lance put on his sock, shoes, and pants, his back hurt too much to put the shirt on yet, not that it mattered because he was alone.

Lance stood in the control room, eating some of his food goo rations, it was the first time he ate today, so he was pretty hungry. Lance was thinking about what things he needed.

_A new jacket,_

_More food,_

_Soap,_

_Some kind of weapon,_

_Medicine/painkillers,_

Lance had written it all down on a piece of paper, now he only had to find a place to buy it all. He took out the map. "So I have to find a spacemall, just smaller than the spacemall" Lance mumbled.

' _Good idea, a smaller spacemall, less chance of meeting Voltron'_

Suddenly Keith was there. "Exactly, now, go away," Lance said irritated, looking at all the small malls on the map.

' _What about that one, it's big enough to have all the things you need but still small enough to lessen the chance of meeting Voltron'_

Keith said as he pointed somewhere on the map. Lance just rolled his eyes. "I said go awa- Oh that actually looks like a good place" Lance interrupted himself when he looked at the place Keith pointed.

' _Shouldn't we head there when?'_

Keith asked, looking almost excited. "Sure, but let me get a shirt on first" Lance said, taking up his shirt.

' _Too bad, you look so hot without it'_

Keith said and smirked. His words earned Lance's attention. Lance had turned faster than he had ever moved and could feel his face starting to heat up. "Wha… hot… mean?" Lance said getting more flustered. Keith started to laugh. It was weird, Lance knew it was just his mind, trying to help him, getting through this, but sometimes, it just felt like talking to the real Keith. Lance shook his head, and took on his shirt, ignoring Keith's protests.

"So I think we should go to the pharmacy first, when a clothes store, maybe after that we should look for a place, where I can get a weapon. And lastly grocery shopping" Lance stated as he parked his ship outside the mall. "So let's get going" Lance jumped out of the door, and winced as the landed sent up a jolt of pain.

' _Are you okay?'_

Keith's voice sounded genuinely concerned. "Just peachy," Lance said, ignoring the pain. "I just need some of that medicine" Lance laughed.

' _As you wish, boss'_

xXx

"What do you think of this one?" Lance asked he was wearing a blue hoodie with small cat ears, on the back was written 'Cat person coming through' with white letters.

' _Perfect'_

Keith said and gave him two thumbs-up. "Okay, I think so too, lucky that I have a lot of GACs with me," Lance said, went up to the counter to buy the hoodie.

xXx

"So I need a gun, actually two, a riffle and a pistol, and a little dagger, can I get those here?" Lance asked the shopkeeper. "Sure, let us look at them," The seller said, sounding excited by the order.

xXx

"Awesome, now I'm broke, well at least I had money enough for everything" Lance sighed and took a slurp of his smoothie. He had used all his money, and all his energy, at once, that was just great.

Lance leaned back in the chair, relaxing a little. It was nice, relaxing, he just wished it would last, but rarely did. Maybe he could take on a vacation, getting down in gear, helping the body becoming ready for some hard battles. But with Lance's luck, the planet would properly get blown up by the galras, maybe something worse.

As Lance sat thinking about vacation, his ears suddenly heard some very familiar voices.

"I told you, his ship is parked inside the parking lot, so he must be in here somewhere"

The voice belonged to the little gremlin of Voltron, Pidge. Someone answered, but it was too low to hear what it was saying, but Lance knew with certainty, who the voice belonged to, the red paladin, Keith.

"Quiznak," Lance said with a low voice and crawled under the table. He needed an escape plan asap. Lance could crawl towards the other exit, and escape that way, although there was a possibility, Keith and Pidge would notice him, and when… when he would have to outrun them. "That's the only plan I have, so let us see if it works" Lance mumbled, and started to crawl as fast as he could.

Lance was almost at the door when he heard Keith say "Pidge, I found Lance" Lance didn't hesitate to start running. Being chased by Keith and Pidge was the scariest thing Lance had ever tried. After one Dobosh of running Lance's vision was going blurry, and he could hear the blood flush in his ears, but he kept the same fast pace of running. Lance's legs and back felt like someone was stabbing them with a hundred knives at once. Black dots made it near impossible to see, and Lance's head was like a carousel. "I think the universe is making a prank on me, the prank is called karma and it's pronounced 'Ha'" Lance mumbled the second before he collapsed.

"Do you think he will be okay?" A concerned voice asked Lance couldn't really pinpoint whose voice it was.

"LANCE!"

This voice was more desperate like the person was in panic-struck, and like the first voice, Lance couldn't tell who the voice belonged to. Somehow this made Lance irritated, why couldn't he tell, it felt like it was important.

"Come on, Lance, wake up" It was the second voice that had spoken. That was the last thing Lance remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter was a hell of a ride. Btw this story is approved by my amazing friend Carla, she has helped me a lot. Thanks for reading remember to comment and give kudos!


	3. 3rd chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> back with karaoke 
> 
> maybe Klance too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is the last chapter, it's been a hell of a bitch this one. There is a lot of cursing, but I really love the ending, it's really sappy. So yeah, have fun, see you in the end note! Oh, and I recommend you hear colours by Halsey before reading this as I made a pickup line to it ;)

Lance could still feel his body burn, which meant he hadn't been in a cryo-pod yet. Lance was close to opening his eyes but kept them shut when he heard voices.

"Why isn't he in a cryo-pod?" The angry, but oddly concerned, the voice could only belong to one person, Keith. "I don't know, Coran just said he had something to ask before he could get him inside one" This voice belonged to Hunk, but sounded weird like he had been crying. God, Lance hoped not, just thinking about it made Lance sad. Keith growled, and Lance could hear him walk restlessly around the room. Lance took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

Not a good idea, because it burned, the light was so sharp and white. Lance hissed in pain and his hands flew up to cover his eyes. "LANCE" He heard Hunk and Keith yell in union with concerned voices. "I'm fine, I just got blinded by the light" Lance reassured them. He sat up and moved his legs to the side, over the edge of the bed he had been lying in. Lance slowly opened his eyes again, this time he was prepared for the light, and it didn't burn the same way as before. His eyes slowly began to make out the room, and the people within.

Lance stood up and started to stretch his body. The pain that went through his body, was almost unbearable, the keyword being almost because Lance didn't show any sign of being injured.

Keith stood in awe as he looked at Lance, he had seen the injury, and it looked awful. "How… how is he doing that?" Hunk asked Keith, also looking at Lance. "I have absolutely no idea" Keith answered.

"So? Can I go?" Lance asked, feeling awkward by the sudden silence. "Why don't we talk to Coran about that" Hunk was the first one to snap out of the shock, and answer Lance. "And where is Coran?" Lance asked impassioned. His fingers started to tap in a fast pace on the metal that made the bed. "Coran?… I think he is on the bridge right now" Keith answered. "Let's go to the bridge then," Lance said, already walking towards the door. "Eh… Are you sure you should walk?" Keith asked unsurely. Lance rolled his eyes. Yes, he was dizzy. Yes, his back was screaming in pain. But he was sure as heck not to let anyone know. "I'm fine," Lance said and started walking again. Behind him, Hunk and Keith shared a look of concern.

" _Space unicorn, Shining in the night, Smiles and hugs forever, All around the world"_

Lance suddenly stopped, he could hear the song play. Space unicorn! "Pidge" Lance whispered and knocked on her door. "What?" Pidge asked and opened the door to her room. She froze when she saw who as at her door. "Lance," Pidge said right before she tackled him in a hug. "Relax Pidgeon, I'm fine and alive" Lance laughed and hugged Pidge back. "You are most definitely not fine" Pidge yelled in Lance's face. "Don't fucking say that you are, because you are NOT" Lance was taken back a little by the anger, he really had fucked up this time, if he just had been stronger.

Pidge suddenly began to apologize, this confused Lance. "Why are you apologizing?" Lance asked as Pidge stopped hugging him. "I forgot… I'm so sorry… I forgot" Pidge said, looking sad at Lance. "Forgot what?" Lance asked. "That you are badly injured… I forgot I'm so sorry" Pidge apologized again. "Pidge, it's fine, you didn't hurt me. Anyway, I need to find Coran" Lance said and ruffled Pidge's hair to calm her.

Hunk and Keith had been standing looking at the two, their reunion was 'super cute', by Hunk's words. Hunk could feel Keith tense when Pidge hugged Lance. The half galra had seen what Pidge only noticed a little too late.

"Why are you looking for Coran?" Pidge asked curiously. "Oh, I just need to ask him about my injury," Lance said nonchalant like it was nothing. "Oh, He's on the bridge" Pidge mumbled, and turned away from Lance. "Wanna come with us?" Hunk asked, he had a feeling everyone should be there, so gathering them now was properly a good idea. "Sure, I have an update to install to the castle anyway" Pidge tried to sound like she didn't want to go, but they all knew better.

The doors to the bridge opened, the few people inside turned their heads and got caught by surprise by the person who came in first. "Lance?" Allura said, looking at him like he was a ghost. "In the flesh and blood," Lance said and bowed slightly. "Now I would like to talk to Coran about my… eh… back problem" The teen's voice was careful not to reveal too much about his condition, Lance knew that they properly all had seen the injury, but there was a big change that they didn't know how bad it actually was. Coran, who had been standing a little behind Allura, took a step forward. "If you don't mind me asking, my boy, how are you standing?" Coran looked at him with pure curiosity and concern. "How are you standing?" Lance shot back the question. "Accordion to my data on your injury should hurt too much for you to even move" Coran sounded both amazed and scared. "It hurts, yeah, but not that bad," Lance said with a shrug.

_Stop lying_

Lance twisted his neck in Keith's direction, even though he already knew it wasn't him there was speaking. God damn his mind. " _Dios_ " Lance mumbled. He was clearly going insane, or maybe it was just his blood loss brain talking, maybe even both.

_Come on, ask him the question_

"Shut up" Lance hissed through gritted teeth, only realizing too late that he was talking out loud. "Lance, are you okay?" Hunk asked concerned. "I'm fine, everything is fine," Lance said nervously. He cleared his throat quietly.

"Anyway, why am I not in a cryo-pod?" Lance looked at the only person, who could possibly give him an answer. "I needed to know something before, you got into the pod" Coran answered. "Like what, what do you want to know?" Lance said tiredly, he honestly just wanted to sleep, he was starting to feel nausea and the black spots were back in his eyesight.

"Lance, your back is messed up, and it has been like this for over a month" The royal adviser held a straight face but his voice cracked a few times revealing the holdback emotions. "Why didn't you tell us? You are obviously in pain" Silence fell over the people in the room, Lance could feel this was something that they all wanted to know.

"I didn't want to bother you. I would just drag you down, I was already the weakest link, and I could still fight, so there was no reason to tell you" Lance shrugged, he ignored the horrified gasp that came from his former teammates, all focused on Coran. "What do you mean, my boy, you will never bother us" Coran's voice was soft, but filled with worry, but Lance didn't care, the elder Altean's words were the last drop.

Lance could feel his blood boil, and his whole body was itching with anger. "I will never… bother… you guys? SERIOUSLY?! That's your comforting words, a lie? What the FUCK?! I _tried_ SO hard to talk to you guys, but what I got back was ' _Shut up, Lance_ ' or ' _Lance, not now, I'm working_ ' even a ' _Hush Lance, the smart ones are talking_ ', so don't you even DARE to say that I would never bother you" Lance had tears in his eyes of anger. He had been talking very slow and had only raised his voice a few time, but his voice had been like ice.

"What? Lance, what are you talking about?" Lance hadn't heard the door opening, he hadn't even noticed the last two people joining them, so he was startled by Shiro's voice. "What part are you talking about?" Lance had turned to face the leader, his voice still cold as ice. "If… If it were this bad, why didn't you say something?" Shiro didn't bother thinking about how cold the room suddenly felt, like, Lance's voice had carried on into the air.

"Because it was true, I did bother you, I always bother people" Lance's voice changed from cold to neutral, like what he just said was a normal thing to say. "You don't bother us, Lance. We might not show it as much as we should, but we care, a lot, about you" Shiro's voice was calm and soothing, but it looked like it did the opposite effect on Lance than intended. Lance looked triggered.

"Oh… You care? Is that the reason for all the yelling, and the 'do better's? Because that sure as HELL felt like you care! Shiro, I fucking died, NO ONE cared about it. I have nightmares about the cold I felt. Being dead was… it was TERRIFYING! Do you understand, how that feels? I still can't really feel the tips of my fingers, they have been numb every since Allura brought me back" Lance finished bitterly. No one dared to speak, not even Shiro, who had been the one to trigger the reaction. Lance stood with crossed arms and tears running down his cheeks. "Fuck it, I'm done," Lance said and stormed out of the doors.

Keith was the one to break the silence "What the fuck, did he mean by 'I fucking died'" Keith yelled at the others. "I would _love_ to know that too" Pidge joined in on Keith's yelling. Soon after Hunk was in on it too. Coran and Shiro stood dumbfounded and looked at each other in confusion. "I don't know, I didn't know he died," Shiro said, looking completely lost,. How had they missed him dying?

Everyone turned to Allura since her name had been the only one to be mentioned. Allura stood with tears in her eyes, and a hand over her mouth so her sobs sounded muffled. "Allura, what happened?" Keith's voice sounded strained, like he wanted to yell at her but tried to keep calm. "Keith, I'm so sorry, I should have said something" Allura whispered through her sobs. "Just… just answer the question" Keith breathed heavily, and you could see him struggling to contain his anger.

"After Lotor became emperor, we went on a mission to help a galra shield station. They protected a planet against harmful radiation. Sendak had destroyed the shield and our team had to repair it. Hunk, Lance and I were going to push the destroyed pieces of the shield. There was an energy discharge, it was heading for Blue and I, but in the last tick, Lance pushed us aside. He got hit by it, and after a very loud scream, his comms went silent. I didn't know what to do or think, so I just rushed into the red lion. Inside… inside Red, Lance laid in the pilot seat… he wasn't breathing, his body was cold, his heart didn't beat, his skin was pale. I panicked, Lance had sacrificed himself, I was so scared" Allura's voice cracked, and it took a few seconds for her to continue.

"I suddenly got an idea, it's from when Lotor and I went to Orlande and went through the Altean challenges. I healed him with Altean alchemy, I brought him back, but I didn't think of the consequences of my actions" Allura barely finished speaking before she completely broke down, and wept loudly. Coran quickly rushed to her side trying his best to comfort her.

"Why didn't we know about this?" Shiro asked. He wasn't angry, there was genuine curiosity in his voice. Allura took some deep breaths before she had some control over her voice. "Right after, we still had a job to do, and I forgot about it. I finally remembered it again a quintant or two after, but Lance seemed fine and I figured that if he wanted everyone to know, he would tell it himself. But I was wrong, he thought you already knew, and we just didn't care" Allura hid her face, again, in her royal adviser's shoulder.

Keith stood in the back, his fingers twitching in anger. He was angry at Allura, he was angry at the team, and he was angry at himself. "And why the fuck would he have a reason to think like that?" Keith's voice was high pitched, and so far from his normal voice. Everyone turned to look at him but quickly looked away again ashamed.

Pidge was the one to clear her throat first to answer his question. "A lot of things happened when you left, lots of good things for the rest of us, but for Lance… Lance had a hard time. I didn't notice it at the time, but now?… looking back at it, I should have noticed. Lance was starting to drift away, he didn't come to our family meals anymore, and no one question it" Pidge took a deep breath before continuing.

"As you know, Shiro is suffering from PTSD, which means that when he is stressed he is angrier than normal" Pidge looked sorrowful over at Shiro. "I know for a fact that Lance doesn't blame Shiro, but he got yelled at, a lot, not only by Shiro but by all of us. One time we were debating, it was about Lotor becoming the emperor, Shiro wanted to help but the rest of us was more… hostile, especially Lance. It didn't turn out well" Pidge finished.

Everyone looked at a devastated Shiro. He looked at his galra robot arm with a sad look in his eyes. "It's okay Shiro, we all did something that pushed Lance over the edge" Hunk said comforting, and laid a kind hand on the older paladins shoulder. Keith was angry, no, furious. "You sure as hell did, I can't believe I didn't know all of this" Keith yelled, his eyes glowing with anger. This coursed Matt to, for the first time under this conversation, step in. "Keith, breathe. Why don't you go check on Lance, I'm not comfortable with him being alone right now" Matt said calmly. Keith huffed but turned around and ran out of the doors to find Lance. "Let's hope he's going to fix our mess" Matt sighed as he looked the way both Lance and Keith had gone.

xXx

Keith ran out of the door, just realizing that he had no idea, where Lance could have gone. "Okay Keith, if you were Lance, and was badly injured and angry at your team. Where would you go?" Keith asked himself silently. Observation deck. He would go there. Keith started to run in the direction of the dark room.

"Lance! I'm so sor- Oh, he is not in here" Keith had started to shout but halfway through he stopped himself as he realized Lance wasn't in the room. Keith started to walk restlessly around in the room. If Lance wasn't here, where could he when be? Maybe Red's hanger? Couldn't hurt to look there. Keith started to run towards Red's hanger, the bittersweet feeling of the known way was starting to set inside Keith.

But as Keith ran, he passed the training deck. The deck should have been empty but it was instead filled with fighting noise. Keith's curiosity got the best of him and he opened the door to see who was training. Lance. He was standing with back turned towards Keith, so he didn't see the older boy. Lance was fighting off a gladiator (Level… 110! Keith was impressed) with bare hands, must be the hand-to-hand combat mode. Lance looked tired, but he kept up the extremely fast pace. His dodging abilities were impressive. The match went on for a few doboshes, without Lance noticing Keith. Suddenly Lance trips and the gladiator take to advantage of the moment to hit Lance in the side. Keith was ready to step in and kill the gladiator when a sudden light blinded him, and as his vision returned Keith gasped loudly.

Lance stood with the blue Bayard in his hand – which by the way hadn't been in the room – but it wasn't in a gun form like it used to, it was a sword. In front of Lance was the gladiator, just sliced in half. Keith stood in awe just looking at the sword.

"How long do you plan on staring at me?" Lance question for Keith came like a surprise and startled the person in question. "How… Why didn't I know?" Keith asked, walking closer to Lance to look at the sword. Lance didn't answer, he just started trembling. Keith got scared that Lance would fall, so he leapt forward, and caught Lance the tick his legs gave up. "What about we sit down?" Keith asked as he guided Lance over to the wall. Keith hadn't been looking at Lance, not until they sat down. "Lance?! Why are you crying? Are you okay?" Keith was panicking, had he said something wrong?

But suddenly Lance smiled. "She's back" Lance whispered happily. "What?" Keith asked, super confused but also kind of relieved, because Lance was clearly not upset, his tears were happy. "Blue… I can hear her again… I missed you, girl… I missed you so much" Lance sniffled happily. Keith listened to the happy reunion (Even if it was only Lance's voice he actually heard)

"Lance… I think it's a good idea if we could get you in a cryo-pod" Keith said concerned. This brought back Lance to reality. "I… Maybe it would be a good idea" Lance sighed. The sword in his hand shrunk back into its resting form. "Let's get going. I will contact Coran to get the pod ready" Keith said, helping Lance to stand up.

xXx

"When will he be out," Keith said impatient, tapping on the glass on the pod. "Stop that, he has to be there at least one more Varga, he has had a lot of blood loss," Coran said, getting the red paladin away from the pod. Keith scowled annoyed but didn't protest.

He and Coran sat down on the chairs they had sat inside the med bay, so they didn't have to leave or sit on the ground when a teammate was in a pod. Hunk cleared his throat, he needed to hear Keith's explanation again. "Keith, can you…" Hunk hesitated a little, but Keith understood. "I was looking for Lance and ran past the training deck. I heard a noise and decided to check, lance was in there tra-" Keith started to explain, but got cut off, by Hunk.

"No, I understand that part, I mean after he collapsed, why was he so happy" Hunk looked at Keith pleading. Keith shrugged and moved awkwardly in his chair. "He didn't just summon any Bayard, he summoned the blue Bayard," Keith said. "What does that have to do with anything," Pidge said irritated, she had snuggled up with Lance's new blue hoodie, and was hearing 'space unicorn' again. "He began crying… He said he could hear her… Blue…" Keith said looking over at the pod.

"Oh, why didn't I know about Lance using a sword" Keith's voice was angering. All looked surprised or confused, that would say, anyone but Allura. "Allura… why are you the only one knowing about this?" Keith said coldly. He still hadn't forgiven her for holding Lance's death a secret, and this didn't really do her any good. "Lance, he asked me not to tell anyone yet, he wanted to be better before it was revealed, and I just forgot about it," Allura said looking at her hands. "Respecting Lance's wishes is honourable and you shouldn't be ashamed," Shiro said and laid a kind hand on the Altean's shoulder. Keith sighed and nodded in agreement.

xXx

Lance stumbled out of the pod. He was freezing and his head was cloudy. Lance could feel warm arms close around him. Hunk. Lance could feel a small smile creep up on his face, he felt so safe. The Cuban took a deep breath and lifted himself from the warmth of his friend. He saw all the concerned faces from his space family but could only offer a small smile as comfort, he was exhausted after the trip in the pod.

"Hey man, welcome back from the dead" Matt said, walking into a bro hug with Lance. "Thanks, dude, glad to be back" Lance answered. He was so thankful for Matt because he was so relaxed around him. "How are you, my boy?" Coran asked, signalling Lance to sit on the examination couch. "Not in pain," Lance said plainly. "I had no idea how much I missed to not be in pain constantly" Lance smiled. He could feel his body relax for the first time in a month, and Lance enjoyed every second of it. As Coran did some routine checks on him, Keith walked up to him.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Keith asked concerned, but Lance didn't listen. He suddenly paled and started to shake. "I can't hear her" Lance whispered. "Lance, what do you mean?" Keith tried to understand, but Lance just mumbled unhearable things.

"Lance, are you okay?" Keith was desperate, he needed to know the younger boy was okay. "I'm okay, gorgeous, just please be there" Lance pleaded, but Keith's mind shut off. Did Lance just call him gorgeous, what, no. Keith's face heated up, and he started to look like a tomato.

Lance, on the other hand, hadn't even noticed him, and just stood up, sprinting out of the door. "I gotta see her" Lance yelled, right before he disappeared out of the door. Hunk walked over to Keith. "just so you know, I pretty sure he was talking about Blue" Hunk said kindly. "Yeah, I figured, but it was still weird being called gorgeous by Lance" Keith mumbled, still kind of embarrassed. "Anyway, I don't know about you, but I want to see this reunion," Keith said, sprinting after Lance, closely followed by the others.

xXx

Lance was terrified, he didn't think he could handle seeing the barrier around Blue again, never again. But he needed to hear her voice if just one more time. Lance would walk through hell and back just to hold one more conversation with her, to feel her calm presence in his mind, to hear her loveable purrs. Lance ended up running faster, he needed to see his girl.

When Lance finally arrived at the blue lion's hangar, he was too exhausted to stand anymore, and just fell on the ground. He looked up at the lion before him, offline. Lance could feel the tears sting in his eye. "No… nononononononononono… this can't be happening, not again, Blue, please I can't" Lance started to mumbled as the tears started to fall.

_My little cub, I will never let you go through that again._

Lance peaked up from his hands. Blue's barrier was down and her eyes lit. She wasn't in the sitting position anymore, she was right in front of Lance now, her head, a few inches away from his. Lance couldn't hold back the sobs any longer, he just broke down. He leaned his head against the cold metal of _his_ lion. _His_.

_You are mine, always, and I will never let go of you again, ever._

Lance relaxed my her voice, and his hiccuping sobs calmed down. Blue kept telling him how much he meant to her and the team, and for the first time in years, Lance felt truly happy.

When Lance finally collected himself, he looked up at the big lion. "I-I made a letter for you too, would you like to hear to it?" Lance said with an insecure voice. But he could immediately feel the excitement from the lion.

_Lance, my little cub, I would love to hear your letter to me_

"Okay, here we go," Lance said, and took the letter out from his back pocket, and started to read.

_Dear Blue,_

_You are the most beautiful creature in the entire universe._

_You made me happy, feel safe, and overall made me feel wanted by someone._

_As the blue paladin, I could do good, make my father proud of me._

_You always were right by my side, I couldn't fail when you were with me, but when I had to leave you, and you locked me out._

_I was alone, I liked Red, but she missed someone too, I could feel it, I couldn't feel the gap her former paladin had left._

_I was happy when you got Allura, you deserved someone better, someone more competent._

_Blue, you are the best lion, no matter what Keith, Pidge or anyone else's says._

_I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I couldn't be better, do you justice, but I have hope that the new Voltron will do just that._

_I enjoyed every tick we spend together, and I wish I could've piloted you one more time, just sit talking to you in your cockpit one more time, Laugh at your jokes one more time._

_But I can't take you from Allura, she is doing so much better than I ever could._

_Don't worry, I have accepted my faith, I'm just a replacement._

_I love you and don't you dare forget it._

_Your cub._

Lance had tears falling down his cheeks, and he looked up at the lion. A sudden feeling of warmth over floated Lance, even though it was strange, Lance knew what it was. Blue was hugging him through their quintessence.

_I love you so much my cub, and I'm sorry I haven't told you this sooner, but you were amazing as my pilot. You are kind-hearted, funny and loyal. You will do anything for me or the other paladins. I have missed you, and my heart broke every time I saw you. I knew you were suffering, and you don't deserve to feel like that. I want you as my paladin, forever, and I will never let go again._

Blue's words were all Lance needed to break down sobbing again. His head still leaned against Blue, and he could hear her soft voice whispering gentle, comforting words.

Lance almost jumped when he felt warm arms, real arms, wrap around him. "Lance… I'm so sorry… I… we are going to get through this" Keith whispered down in Lance's hair. "Keith, I… I can't do this, I'm not good enough… What if I fuck up again, but… I… m-miss when we-we all worked together, I miss you" Lance was just only understandable through the heavy sobbing. Keith could feel his heart break all over again. "We will be there with you, everyone fucks up, not only you. Lance… you don't fuck up, you just take all the blame. Please, let us… let me help you get better" Keith hugged Lance tighter as he talks. His voice was pleading and broke a few times.

Lance relaxed in the arms of Keith and Blue and just cried. Cried for his papa's death. Cried for his mom's stress about raising him and his siblings. Cried for every time he had felt homesick. Cried for all the pain he had gone through. Cried for the all his teammate's pain. And cried for the sake of crying. While he let out every tear in his body, Keith and Blue continued whispering comforting words to him.

As Lance got some control over himself again, and his sobs quiet down, Lance slowly breathed in and out. "Thank you both" Lance said with a hoarse voice. Blue purred in the back of his mind, and he petted her before he turned to face Keith.

"Thank you, mullet, I really needed that," Lance said with a small, but real, smile on his lips. "I'm just happy to have you back, I really missed you too," Keith said sincerely.

Keith's serious face turned into a smirk, and Lance picked it up right away. "I know that smirk, what are you planning?" Lance said with suspicious in his voice. Keith opened the little bag on his belt. Lance looked curiously at Keith, he had never seen the older boy opening the bag before. "Close your eyes," Keith said softly. "What? Why?" Lance exclaimed confused. "Just close them, sharpshooter" Keith said with a fake annoyance and chuckled lightly.

Lance huffed but did what Keith told him to do. Lance heard some weird sounds, like Keith, was emptying the bag's content. How much could that little bag hold inside? "Give me your hand," Keith asked after a few ticks of silence. "Why?" Lance asked hesitantly but gave Keith his hand anyway. "You'll know it in just a tick," Keith said and laid something Lance's hand. It was a box of some form, Lance could feel it. "Okay, you can open your eyes now," Keith said, he sounded somewhat excited, and that fact alone made Lance nervous.

Lance opened one eye, and when the other eye. He first looked at Keith, who smiled awaiting, and when he looked at his hand. It was a gift, a squared gift wrapped in a dark blue paper with small cat looking animals on, and a baby blue coloured ribbon. Lance looked excited from the gift to Keith and back. "Are you for real? Why did you give me a gift?" Lance asked both excited and confused.

"Eh… You don't know?" Keith said hesitant but only got some confusing back. "Know what?" Lance asked curiously. "It was your birthday eight days ago, today is 5th of August," Keith said. Lance's face was a well of emotions. "I forgot…" Lance managed to say. "Yeah, looks like I'm the only person who actually remembered, Anyway welcome to the adults' world, sweet 18," Keith said throwing his arms up in the air, playing all dramatic. "It's sweet 16, mullet, but… thank you" Lance voice was sincere, even with the joke in the start of his sentence.

"Can I open it, can I?" Lance sounded excited again and almost jumped in joy when Keith nodded. Lance acted like a little kid and ribbed the gift paper off the gift as he had predicted it was a box, but it was a cardboard box. "Open the box" Keith was now the one sounding excited. Lance did as Keith said, and slowly took the lid off. Inside was some fingerless leather gloves, they looked like the ones Keith had, but they had 'SHARPSHOOTER' embroidered on. Lance didn't waste time, and took them on the second he noticed what it was. "Fits perfectly," Lance said with a happy grin. Keith smiled, and his cheeks had a hint of pink on them.

A suddenly sound behind the two boys, made them freeze in their actions. It was Shiro who had cleared his throat. "H-hey Shiro," Lance said, suddenly looking very small, and very tired. Shiro looked in surprise at Lance and looked at Keith to get an answer. This was the moment, where their brother connection kicked in, they had a conversation through their eyes.

"Keith, what the flip is going on, did I do something wrong?" Shiro said with his eyes to Keith. "I don't know, Lance is not in a good place, and I don't think he has been in one, in a very long time," Keith said back, still with his eyes. "Okay, we're going to get through this, I will use the same method I used on you," Shiro said and winked.

Shiro when turned to face Lance, his whole expression soften even more, and he walked slowly over to the younger boy. Lance flinched when Shiro started moving. "Hey Kiddo, how are feeling, remember I only want the truth, nothing of that 'I'm fine' bullshit if that's not how you are feeling," Shiro said as he kneeled in front of Lance.

"I… I" Lance looked in between Keith and Shiro. "I… I'm feeling lonely, and tired, and I wish I could feel happy… but-but I don't… I don't know how" Lance stuttered through his sentence. "It's okay Lance, it's always okay to not be okay," Shiro said, pulling Lance into a tight hug, and Lance just melted into it. "We're going to get you through this and to the other side, okay?" Shiro whispered. Lance didn't trust his voice so he just nodded, he trusted his space family to help him get better, and he really wanted to get better.

Lance looked behind Shiro and saw the rest standing in the door, all of them with teary eyes.

***Three months later**

After a lot of different therapy (This include Keith's weird 'smash gladiator's every time you're angry or sad' therapy) Lance had found a good therapist and was starting to get better. They had had lion swap again, so everyone was back to there original lions, and they had built (Hunk, Pidge, and Coran) a new lion to Allura, her lion was white and Pink, and it was build of some comet, that Lance had borrowed (stolen) from Lotor.

Everything was finally starting to look brighter, and because it was two months since Lance had started to the actual good therapy, they held a karaoke party.

xXx

"So who wants to go first," Shiro asked with the microphone in his hand. Pidge pushed her glasses up and smirked evilly. "Me and Lance" Pidge stated. "It's Lance and I" Keith corrected. "I guess you can go first if you really want" Pidge shrugged and her face lit up in a smirk, and when everyone realized what had just happened.

Keith and Lance looked at each other, both after a second or two shrugged and went up and took the microphones. "So what do you want to sing?" Keith asked. "I was a theatre kid when I was younger so…" Lance started to whisper to Keith. Keith's face lit up grin and nodded. The music started up, and the others immediately recognize the song. Take me or leave me. Lance started to sing.

"Every single day I walk down the street

I hear people say 'baby's so sweet'

Ever since puberty

Everybody stares at me

Boys, girls, I can't help it baby

So be kind

And don't lose your mind

Just remember that I'm your baby"

Everyone was shocked that Lance could sing so well.

"Take me for what I am

Who I was meant to be

And if you give a damn

Take me, baby

Or leave me

Take me baby or leave me"

Hunk cheered excited, as Lance nailed the lyrics.

"A tiger in a cage can never see the sun

This diva needs her stage baby let's have fun

You are the one I choose

Folks would kill to fill your shoes

You love the limelight too now baby

So be mine

And don't waste my time

Crying oh honey bear are you still my my my baby (don't you dare)"

Keith was the one singing 'don't you dare' part

"Take me for what I am

Who I was meant to be

And if you give a damn

Take me baby or leave me"

This time everyone cheered

"No way

Can I be what I'm not

But hey

Don't you want your boy hot?

Don't fight

Don't lose you head

Cause every night who's in your bed

Who?

Who's in your bed

Kiss pookie"

Keith readied himself, his part was coming up.

"It won't work

I look before I leap

I love margins and discipline

I make lists in my sleep baby

What's my sin?

Never quit I follow through

I hate mess but I love you

What to do with my impromptu baby

So be wise

Cause this girl satisfies

You got a prize so don't compromise

You're one lucky baby"

Again everyone was shocked about how good Keith was to sing (Other Lance, he had heard Keith in the shower more than ones)

"Take me for what I am" "Control freak"

"Who I was meant to be" "Snob yet over attentive"

"And if you give a damn" "Lovable droll geek"

"Take me baby or leave me" "Anal retentive"

Keith sang first part and Lance second, and they did it amazingly.

"That's it

The straw that breaks my back

I quit

Unless you take it back

Women, what is it about them?

Can't live

With them or without them"

Keith nailed his lyrics with the same energy as Lance and earned some cheers.

"Take me for what I am

Who I was meant to be (who I was meant to be)

And if you give a damn (and if you give a damn)

Take me baby (oh take me, baby)

Or leave me (take me or leave me)

Take me, baby

Or leave me"

Lance sang the choir with some of the other paladins who could the song. They ended the song with their heads touching. They looked each other in the eyes, and both smiled lovingly at each other.

xXx

"Get a room" Pidge yelled, pushing her glasses up and the glass got caught in the light so you couldn't see her eyes. Lance and Keith pulled away from each other, both blushing madly. Pidge didn't give a fuck and stood up stating her mind. "My turn to sing" Pidge walked up and took the microphone for Keith. "Hit it" Pidge yelled and the castle started the song. Lance almost screamed because he knew this at heart. Space Unicorn.

"Space unicorn

Soaring through the stars

Delivering the rainbows all around the world"

Lance just sat and fanboyed all over the place.

"Space unicorn

Shining in the night

Smiles and hugs forever

All around the world"

Keith didn't get to hear more, because Hunk dragged him away. "What do you want?" Keith asked. "You like Lance, right?" Hunk said with crossed arms. Keith could feel his face growing hotter, and his brain was going a 100 miles an hour, what should say, what could he say. "Yeah, I really like him," Keith said, scratching his neck, not daring to look Hunk in the eyes. "That's good because he deserves someone as good as you" Hunk said kindly, pulling Keith into a crushing hug. "What?" Keith asked confused when Hunk finally let him go. "I figured you two out the second he recognize you by the hair" Hunk chuckled and Keith blushed madly. They got back into the launch just in time to hear the end of Pidge's song.

"All around the world

All around the world"

Lance was clapping like a maniac, and his grin was even worse. "Pidge, that was amazing!" Lance said high-fiving the smaller girl. "Thank you, Lance, because, now we are going to sing together. MATT, you're going to sing with us too" Pidge said, and the two boys each took a microphone. "Ready?" Pidge asked, both nodding. And the music started.

"Mr. Sun came up and he smiled at me

Said it's gonna be a good one just wait and see

Jumped out of bed and I ran outside

Feeling so extra ecstatified"

The tree sang in perfect unison, even if it was an almost meme song.

"It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)

It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)"

Lance was almost choking as he was singing because he tried not to laugh.

"I'm so busy got nothing to do

Spent the last two hours just tying my shoe

Every flower, every grain of sand

Is reaching out to shake my hand"

Now they started dancing too and earned lot's of laughter from their audience

"It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)

It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)"

Everyone started singing to the chores

"Sometimes the little things start closing in on me

When I'm feeling down I wanna lose that frown

I stick my head out the window and I look around"

Those clouds don't scare me, they can't disguise

This magic that's happening right before my eyes

Soon Mr. Moon will be shining bright

So the best day ever can last all night

Yes, the best day ever's gonna last all night now"

Matt and Lance lifted Pidge up on their shoulders and walked around still singing. And Keith mumbled under his breath "Show offs"

"It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)

It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)

It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)

It's the best day ever

(Best day ever)

Best day ever

Best day ever"

Everyone was smiling and laughing when the song ended. "Good job guys," Pidge said, clapping her two brothers on the back.

After some beautiful performance of Bye Bye Bye by Matt, survivor by Shiro, and one of Loser like me from Hunk and Lance later, Keith stood ready to sing the song Colors.

"Your little brother never tells you but he loves you so

You said your mother only smiled on her tv show

You're only happy when your sorry head is filled with dope

I hope you make it to the day you're twenty-eight years old"

Lance understood right away that Keith was singing this song to him and mouthed "Thank you"

"You're dripping like a saturated sunrise

You're spilling like an overflowing sink

You're ripped at every edge but you're a masterpiece

And now i'm tearing through the pages and the ink"

Keith sang the song perfectly, and Lance just sat swaying in tact to the song.

"Everything is blue

His pills, his hands, his jeans

And now i'm covered in the colors pull apart at the seams

And it's blue

And it's blue

Everything is grey

His hair, his smoke, his dreams

And now he's so devoid of color

He don't know what it means

And he's blue

And he's blue"

After Keith had finished singing the song, Lance almost immediately went up to him. "Purple is all right for me" Lance whispered and pulled Keith into a kiss. First Keith tensed up, but soon he melted into the kiss.

After a few seconds, they broke the kiss, both all out of breath. There was silence for a moment before everyone started cheering. Pidge was looking at the GAC's that Shiro had given her, apparently had he betted with Pidge and thought that it would have taken one more month for them to kiss. Both Hunk and Allura just stood in complete cuteness shock. Coran and Matt stood looking knowingly at the two boys.

Lance's smile was so big, and his eyes shined of happiness as he looked at the purple-eyed boy. Keith just looked flustered, but he did send a shy, but loving smile to his crush. "So, what are we," Lance asked carefully, slowly reaching out for Keith's hand. The older boy let him take the hand, and a smirk formed on Keith's face. "Hmmm, me gusta el término novio," Keith said, Lance understood perfectly even if Keith's pronouncing was a little wobbly. "I like the term Boyfriend too," Lance said and gave Keith a kiss on the cheek.

"I got a really ironic song, and we have to sing it" Keith suddenly exclaimed, and dragged Lance up to the microphones. Keith whispered the song to Lance. This put a smirk on the blue paladin's face, and the song started.

"Hey dude.." Lance started.

"Yeah, bro?" Keith smiled as he continued their duet.

"So, uh, I've got something I need to get off my chest" Lance sang.

"Ya do?" Keith faked an innocent look as he sang his part.

"Hey dude

We've been best friends for a really long time now" Lance smiled as he sang.

"Yeah, dude" Keith stack his out tongue at Lance but continued untouched by it.

"And there's something I need you to know" Lance twirled around Keith, and winked at him.

"Okay" Keith chuckled out, and his eyes followed Lance.

"Remember that time we were surfing

And I almost drowned

And you dragged me to the beach

And performed CPR?

Well, no homo!

But that's the day I fell in love with you

No homo!

But that's the day I knew you were mine

Looking into your eyes

Made me realize

That no homo

But your lips touching mine

Changed my life" Lance smiled brightly to Keith as Lance sang the lyrics.

"Bro, are you sayin' what I think you're sayin'?" Keith sang.

"Uhh... Yeah, I think so" Lance shrugged, he and Keith were doing the whole acting thing because it was fun.

"Well then... Uh...

Yeah dude

I totally get what you're saying" Keith said, and grinned to Lance.

"Ya do?" Lance sang with a fake surprise in his voice.

They continued and finished the song, again with their heads so close that their noses were touching. Lance kissed Keith's nose and pulled away. Keith's face turned crimson, but he still had a grin all over his face.

"My turn" Hunk said and took the microphone from Lance. Not long after started Hunk's song.

"This is a story about a girl named Lucky

Early morning, she wakes up

Knock, knock, knock on the door

It's time for make-up, perfect smile

It's you they're all waiting for

They go

Isn't she lovely, this Hollywood girl?

And they say

She's so lucky, she's a star

But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking

If there's nothing missing in my life

Then why do these tears come at night?"

Hunk smiled, he could this song by memory and didn't have to look at the lyrics as he sang.

"Lost in an image, in a dream

But there's no one there to wake her up

And the world is spinning, and she keeps on winning

But tell me what happens when it stops?

They go

Isn't she lovely, this Hollywood girl?

And they say

She's so lucky, she's a star

But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking

If there's nothing missing in my life

Then why do these tears come at night?"

Lance and Pidge cheered, Shiro nodded to the beat, and Keith clapped.

"Best actress, and the winner is Lucky

I'm Roger Johnson for Pop News standing outside the arena waiting for Lucky

Oh my god here she comes

Isn't she lovely, this Hollywood girl?

She is so lucky, but why does she cry?

If there is nothing missing in her life

Why do tears come at night?"

Hunk danced to the music, twirling and played with the microphone.

"And they say she's so lucky, she's a star

But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking

If there's nothing missing in my life

Then why do these tears come at night?

She's so lucky

But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking

If there's nothing missing in my life

Then why do these tears come at night?"

Everyone cheered as Hunk finished his song. Lance went up and hugged Hunk. "Good job, Buddy, just like old times" Lance smiled but didn't get to talk more, before Keith dragged him and Pidge up to the karaoke machine. "Okay theatre kid, can you rap?" Keith asked and smirked at the new nickname. "Of course I can, Mullet," Lance said with a smile. The music started, and Lance, as the theatre kid he was, recognized the song before the second beat came.

"Ohh, I do I do I do I

_Hey hey hey hey_

Dooo! Hey!

_Hey hey hey hey_

Ohh, I do I do I do I

_Hey hey hey hey_

Dooo! Boy you got me

_Hey hey hey hey"_

Keith sang and it sounded beautiful.

"Helpless!

Look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit I'm helpless!

Down for the count, and I'm drownin' in 'em"

Pidge and Keith sang together.

"I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight

We were at a revel with some rebels on a hot night

Laughin' at my sister as she's dazzling the room

Then you walked in and my heart went "Boom!"

Tryin' to catch your eye from the side of the ballroom

Everybody's dancin' and the band's top volume"

Everyone cheered at Keith, as he sang his lyrics.

"Grind to the rhythm as we wine and dine"

Pidge and Keith sang together again.

"Grab my sister, and whisper, "Yo, this one's mine." ( _Ooh_ )

My sister made her way across the room to you ( _Ooh_ )

And I got nervous, thinking "What's she gonna do?" ( _Ooh_ )

She grabbed you by the arm, I'm thinkin' "I'm through" ( _Ooh_ )

Then you look back at me and suddenly I'm

Helpless!

Oh, look at those eyes

_Look into your eyes_

_And the sky's the limit_

Oh!

_I'm helpless_

Yeah, I'm helpless, I know

_Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em_

_I'm helpless_

I'm so into you

_Look into your eyes_

I am so into you

_And the sky's the limit, I'm helpless_

I know I'm down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em

_Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em_ "

Keith and Pidge switched singing **(A/N: Pidge sings the italic)**

"I'm writin' a letter nightly

Now my life gets better, every letter that you write me

Laughin' at my sister, cuz she wants to form a harem"

Keith sang, leaning against Pidge.

"I'm just sayin', if you really loved me, you would share him"

Pidge said, nudging Keith in the stomach with a big grin.

"Ha!

Two weeks later in the living room stressin' ( _stressin'_ )

My father's stone-faced while you're asking for his blessin' ( _blessin'_ )

I'm dying inside, as you wine and dine

And I'm tryin' not to cry 'cause there's nothing that your mind can't do ( _Ooh_ )

My father makes his way across the room to you ( _Ooh_ )

I panic for a second, thinking "we're through"( _Ooh_ )

But then he shakes your hand and says "Be true" ( _Ooh_ )

And you turn back to me, smiling, and I'm

Helpless! ( _Helpless!_ )

_Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit_

_I'm helpless_

Helpless

_Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em_ (hoo!)

_I'm helpless!_

That boy is mine, that boy is mine

_Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit_

_I'm helpless_

Helpless, helpless

Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em

_Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em"_

Keith smiled as he sang with Pidge and they danced around **(A/N: Again Pidge sings the italic part)**. Lance readied himself, his part was coming up.

"Eliza, I don't have a dollar to my name

An acre of land, a troop to command, a dollop of fame

All I have's my honor, a tolerance for pain

A couple of college credits and my top-notch brain

Insane, your family brings out a different side of me

Peggy confides in me, Angelica tried to take a bite of me

No stress, my love for you is never in doubt

We'll get a little place in Harlem and we'll figure it out

I've been livin' without a family since I was a child

My father left, my mother died, I grew up buckwild

But I'll never forget my mother's face, that was real

And long as I'm alive, Eliza, swear to God

You'll never feel so…"

Everyone cheered because Lance nailed his rapping part.

"Helpless!

_I do, I do, I do, I do!_

**Eliza**

Helpless!

_I do, I do, I do, I do!_

**I've never felt so—**

Helpless!

_Hey, yeah, yeah!_

Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em

_I'm down for the count, I'm—_

Helpless!

**My life is gon' be fine 'cause Eliza's in it**

Helpless!

_I look into your eyes and the sky's the limit, I'm—_

Helpless!

Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em

_...drownin' in 'em"_

They all sang together **(A/N: Pidge sings the italic part and Lance sings the bold part)**

"In New York, you can be a new man…

In New York, you can be a new man…

In New York, you can be a new man…"

Pidge sang, and Lance cheered because she sang it really good.

"Helpless"

Keith finished the song. The tree of them bowed and got loud cheering from their happy audience.

"GRoUP HuG" Lance suddenly yelled, and everyone just joined in. "Thank you so much, I love you all," Lance said with a big smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: All done, I'm crying. I am working on getting all my already written fanfics over here so Hopefully, I will get them published soon. I hoped you all liked it because I enjoyed writing it. If you want me to write something You can find me on Tumblr (username: Blooddemonfox) or make a comment with a prompt. Anyway, have fun, and a good day, remember to comment and give kudos!
> 
> Songs:
> 
> Take me or leave me - Cast of Rent
> 
> Space unicorn - Parry Gripp
> 
> it's the best day ever - SpongeBob Squarepants
> 
> The bro duet - Drew Gasparini and Brandon Ellis
> 
> colors - Halsey
> 
> Lucky - Britney Spears
> 
> Helpless - Cast of Hamilton


End file.
